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How contagious is HSV1 genital to genital?

I was diagnosed with HSV1 genitally last February and haven't had an outbreak since, until last week. My Gyno told me it wasn't anything I needed to disclose to sexual partners as long as I was using protection and obviously avoided sexual activity during outbreaks. I was sexually active with a partner last week, and days later developed some blisters along the left side of my vagina around the pubic hair - which obviously isn't protected by a condom. I'm feeling guilty and worrying that I could have passed it along, but I keep reading it's HSV1 is hard to pass on genital to genital, and I also am not comfortable telling this person that I have HSV1 when I probably didn't pass it along to them. Kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place, because I know the chances are slim but I'm still feeling guilty. I read you are most contagious right before the blisters develop, and that's when we had sex. We had sex Monday evening and they were semi-noticeable Friday, even more so on Saturday. Can you shed some light on this for me? I was having unprotected sex with my ex during my last outbreak before I was diagnosed and he didn't catch it, so is it safe to say that I don't need to worry too much? Do you have percentages of contagiousness or transmission for HSV1 genital to genital?
Thank you!
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101028 tn?1419603004
should you be disclosing hsv1 infections to partners? yes you should be whether they are oral or genital. it's a matter of honesty as well as protecting yourself. don't discuss it with a partner and you transmit your herpes to them, you risk them suing you.  it's also a good way to have a conversation about std's in general so that you are sure a partner has been tested to protect you from more std's!!

can you transmit genital hsv1 to a partner? yes you can. the odds of such are lower than that of an oral hsv1 infection or a genital hsv2 infection but it can happen. it's estimated that about 10% of all genital hsv1 infections are transmitted from genitals to genitals.  

is it likely it was an issue with the partner in question? no it is not.  a recurrence most likely wasn't shedding 5 days in advance of the actual lesions.  If you are going to continue to have sex with this partner though, it's worth talking about. also if the two of you haven't shown each other std results to know that they are std free, worth doing too. you need to protect yourself from hsv2 as well as other std's too.

grace
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3149845 tn?1506627771
If the virus is present, either by a sore or shedding and someone comes into contact they can contract it. But most often there needs to be some rubbing and grinding to force the virus into the nerve. Also depends on the body part. There needs to be a ganglion associated with the contact area either oral ganglion or sacurm ganglion.
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Avatar universal
Ok thank you. Sorry for all of the questions, I just have one more.
If the virus is present, someone won't always catch it when coming into contact with it?
Thanks for all of your help. I appreciate it.
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3149845 tn?1506627771
Scabbing over means the sore is healing and most likely the virus is dead.
A study was done on shedding and of the days in testing they found the virus on the surface 3-5% of the time without any sore present.
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Avatar universal
When the sores are scabbed over it contains the virus? Then am I wrong in thinking they are more contagious just before they develop or pop? That's what I had originally thought.

What do you mean shedding 3-5% of days evaluated. What does that mean exactly?
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3149845 tn?1506627771
When the sores are scabed over it contains the virus. HSV1 prefers the oral ganglion not the sacrum, why, no one knows.
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Avatar universal
The sores weren't at all visible at the time, I noticed them days later. Does that change the risk factor of passing it alone?  And why is HSV1 so much harder to contract genital to genital? Thank you!
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3149845 tn?1506627771
Hi, most studies are with hsv2.  But we do know that genital shedding of hsv1 occured 3-5% of the days evaluated and using a condom you are correct the risk is quite low but with sores present at the time does increase the risk considerably. You should mention this to him as he would be a risk. I think you would like to know if someone had it before being intimate correct?
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Avatar universal
Sorry, we had sex Monday evening and they developed the Friday after, not the Friday before, just to clarify.
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