Can I get hsv2 by shared food?

[Vegandetox]

My sister has oral hsv2 . While I was ordering food I wasn't paying attention she passed me a bar she she had bitten off of. I wasn't paying attention and I put it in my mouth. Then I spit it and gargles with mouth wash and brushed my teeth right away.

A week later I had dental work and they were pretty stressful on my mouth. Then I had cold sores the next day and a sore throat .

I went to urgent care to test me for hsv. They told me the test was negative. 2 weeks later I felt my lymph nodes swelled and was very fatigued and I felt my little shocks around my ear and back of my head. I went back and told them my throat was still sore they swabbed me for strep and hsv and it was still negative. A week later my throat burned and I went back to urgent care and they subscribed me valtrix. But they had me pay for my own blood test. Those results are .93 for hsv1 and .95 for hsv2 equivocal.

I still have a sore throat and my back after taking the medication. I am not sure if I should take another blood test?

[auntiejessi]

Oral hsv2 rarely sheds, and rarely recurs, and is virtually non-transmittable in the absence of symptoms. You really didn't need to test in the first place, since food isn't a way to transmit hsv.

You and your doctors are overreacting, a lot.

Even if you had a risk, you wouldn't develop antibodies for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer. The hsv2 IgG (make sure that's what you had, not an IgM) can have false positives, so I don't think you should test again. If you get a false positive, it takes weeks and several hundred dollars to unwind. If you're in Canada (which I'm guessing because you had to pay for your own test), it can be even harder.

The hsv1 can miss about 30% of infections. If you actually had cold sores, I'm guessing you have hsv1. Have you had cold sores before?

Since you had sores the day after the dentist, are you sure they were cold sores and not a reaction to something they used doing the work they did?

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/teens/ask-experts/can-herpes-be-spread-through-sharing-food-and-drinks#:~:text=No%2C%20you%20can't%20get,needed%20to%20pass%20the%20virus.

https://westoverheights.com/forum/question/possible-infection-of-oral-hsv-sharing-food/

https://westoverheights.com/forum/question/follow-up-hsv-1/

https://westoverheights.com/forum/question/transmission-17/

Your sister is not a walking biohazard. Please do not treat her that way.

I don't know what is causing your symptoms, maybe strep, covid, allergies - you'll need to work with your doctors to figure it out. If it's herpes, it's a pre-existing infection or you got it from someone other than your sister.

[Vegandetox]

Sorry they were canker sores inside my mouth where the dental work was done.

[auntiejessi]

Oh okay - those are very different than cold sores, which it sounds like you know.

Still, you had no risk from your sister's food. Your sister will likely never transmit this in her life, and I hope you can change your view of her. If she feels this way, I hope you'll show her this information.

I hope you feel better soon. :)

[Vegandetox]

I didn't think so either but I think her gynocologyst told her a different story. I will go ahead and let her know.

[auntiejessi]

Doctors often stink when it comes to herpes, even specialists. It's unfortunate. :(

We don't know actual transmission rates of ohsv2, but most experts will say they've never seen it happen. We do know shedding rates.

HSV 2 genital 15-30% (55-110) of days evaluated

HSV 1 genital 3-5% (10-18) of days evaluated
  
HSV 1 oral 25% (91) of days evaluated

HSV 2 oral 1% (~4) of days evaluated

This means that she is shedding the virus on about 4 days a year. Shedding episodes don't last the entire 24 hour period - it might last a couple of hours or several hours, but at best, she's shedding 96 hrs a year.