Aa
Really confused
okay so the whole herpes transmission is very confusing to me... I have always been under the impression that in order for you to get herpes you must come in direct contact with a sore or lesion. After doing some internet research I have read that that information is Mostly correct but some sites say you can get it at any time whether someone has a cold sore or not. Now with nearly 90% of people having hsv1 from childhood and the amount of people who engage is kissing, oral and other kinds of sex it makes me think if that were true then virtually everyone would have genital herpes, and while it's common that just isn't plausible to me. Anyway, in mid April I received oral sex from a man (I am female) who had no sores on his mouth or tongue. I haven't been concerned at all until today my regular partner had a bump on his penis near the head that looked like a blackhead/pimple type of thing. He popped it and it went away and did not turn into a scab or anything and now it looks like nothing was ever even there. I have had no rashes or bumps on my vagina or any cold sore on my lips or anything in my entire life. So here's the confusing part; I know I put myself at risk, but if I already had the hsv1 like most people do from childhood would I become reinfected with it and give it to my partner? I really cannot even form what I want to ask because I really am confused by how it is transmitted. If I made out with someone who didn't have a sore but had the virus give it to me and I could infect my partner by performing oral sex on him Even if I already had it from childhood? See how confused I am haha Please help me to understand
Exactly right. Very likely you did experience cold sores when very young for a few months after infection, but have no living memory of this. About half of people with oral HSV1 have this experience.
In the end though, HSV1 is not really worth the concern expressed. It is a common virus that is harmless to the vast majority of the population.
In the end though, HSV1 is not really worth the concern expressed. It is a common virus that is harmless to the vast majority of the population.
But what if I've never had a cold sore does that mean that I've never been exposed to the virus or does that mean I could have it but I just don't get cold sores?
A person with an oral HSV1 infection, very common indeed, is basically immune of a subsequent infection elsewhere, either from another person or self innoculation.
With only one nerve ganglion infected, cold sores are only experienced at the nerve endings for that ganglion and never anywhere else.
With only one nerve ganglion infected, cold sores are only experienced at the nerve endings for that ganglion and never anywhere else.
I mean I have never been tested for it and have never had a cold sore or anything so there really is no definite positive in this situation... I just assumed I did since it seems that nearly everyone has the hsv1 that causes the cold sores (my grandma does for sure she always has a cold sore and I have given her a casual kiss goodbye many times in my life) but I never really thought of it as being herpes. And I had no idea that if you had it orally from kissing or whatever that it could become genital herpes since I have never had any kind of outbreak and neither has my partner of eight years. Apparently what wason him is not a herpes lesion it was just like a zit. Anyway mainly what I was trying to understand is this; let's say I have had hsv1 orally since childhood; would it show up at some point in my life as genital herpes ?(since I do Engage in oral and regular sex) but again have NEVER had anything that would even resemble an outbreak. Also would kissing someone else who had hsv1 cause like a flare up or something or cause it to spread to another part of my body? Or affect my partner in any way? I repeat: neither of us has had an outbreak EVER so I don't know if either of us even has it
Once a person is infected, they are infected for life. The virus will live in the nerve cells of the infected ganglion.
The virus is always alive and replicating, mostly at a slow rate and keeps in equilibrium but when conditions are right, the virus can reach the skins surface near the nerve endings. Most of the time, this causes no issues with the skin, but sometimes the virus is sufficient to cause the telltale blisters.
Skin to skin contact with an area where this virus poses a chance of transmission, so long as a sufficient amount of the virus is rubbed into the skin and finds a nerve ending.
You have HSV1, always will have HSV1 and hence always pose a small risk each physical contact with someone who does not have HSV1. You cannot be reinfected or induced to have an outbreak through exposure to the virus.
The virus is always alive and replicating, mostly at a slow rate and keeps in equilibrium but when conditions are right, the virus can reach the skins surface near the nerve endings. Most of the time, this causes no issues with the skin, but sometimes the virus is sufficient to cause the telltale blisters.
Skin to skin contact with an area where this virus poses a chance of transmission, so long as a sufficient amount of the virus is rubbed into the skin and finds a nerve ending.
You have HSV1, always will have HSV1 and hence always pose a small risk each physical contact with someone who does not have HSV1. You cannot be reinfected or induced to have an outbreak through exposure to the virus.
Sorry my comment posted before it was done. Yes you can get the virus with no sores present. Many who have it can't/wont have sex with one. Too painful and the risk of spreading is much higher. It does not sound like he has gotten it. Sores do no "pop" I wouldn't worry.
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You are reading content posted in the Herpes Community
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
