Is a sore throat a symptom of genital herpes? My little sister got a cold Monday night or Tuesday morning, there is a high chance she passed it on to me because I got a sore throat about an hour ago (Thursday night). This would only be 3 days after my sexual encounter. My random itching and tingling went away but not completely, it’s 90% less than it was a couple days ago tho, still no visible symptoms everything is good. As of right now I currently have a sore throat, no runny nose or cough or headache or me feeling tired at all.
I read somewhere that HSV symptoms include flu like symptoms like a headache, fever, tiredness. But it doesn’t cause symptoms of a cold like sore throat, cough, runny nose, congestion. Is this true?
When you said fever I assumed that a sore throat is always included in a fever, am I wrong?
Yes I am spiraling, I’ve had encounters before with my exes, and I always feared herpes. I tested 3x for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 and all came back negative all within the past 2 years. Today is day 2 and by the time you read this it will be day 3 since my encounter. My throat is a little irritated, like I feel like I have to scratch my throat but when I swallow no pain at all, it feels like a sore throat is coming but there’s no pain. There’s also mild tingling and itching around my general area, my legs, arms, back and face, basically my whole body but it shows up at random times and is very mild. The mild on and off tingling and itching started yesterday which would be a day after my encounter with the escort. Those are the only things out of the ordinary that i am currently feeling right now. But the less I think of herpes or get my mind out of this overall situation, everything I’m feeling lessens considerably and sometimes pops in at random times but even more mild than other times.
Last year when I was spiraling out of control over this issue I believe my anxiety/stress imitated herpes symptoms. I had every symptom but herpes sores, lesions, bumps and redness but a couple people told me it must’ve been just stress or anxiety. But it was never really an expert such as yourself who assured me it was stress.
My question is, could the things I’m feeling now be because of stress or anxiety? I’m constantly regretting my decision and thinking and fearing this almost 24/7.
Thank you for responding, I have a follow up question.
If she did have an outbreak would it be extremely painful for her to have intercourse?
In my eyes and better judgement she was completely fine, she wasn’t sick, it was a little dark in the room so I couldn’t see her genital area clearly, but it didn’t seem like there was anything. Now that I think about that day I start to realize that maybe the base of my penis wasn’t in her but it’s a high chance it was because I was in deep.
The chances of getting herpes from a one-time encounter with someone who doesn't have an outbreak are pretty low. We don't have exact numbers for that, but we do know that if you had a long-term relationship with a female who had hsv2, avoided sex during outbreaks, and had sex 2-3 times a week, over the course of a year, you'd have a 4% chance of getting it.
We know that condoms offer men about 30-50% protection against hsv2 from an infected woman. It's hard to say what your protection was since your condom didn't cover entirely. (If you have problems with fit, you should find a brand/size that works for you, and bring that with you.)
From the oral sex, you could get genital hsv1, if she put her mouth beyond the condom, which she didn't. I'm just letting you know that for future reference. There doesn't seem to be a risk here for that.
Overall, it sounds like your risk for hsv2 was low. I can't say zero, but low.
There is a risk for syphilis, too, but syphilis is uncommon in most developed areas, so I wouldn't worry about that. If you decide to test for that, you can at 6 weeks, just to be sure.
You can take an IgG type specific herpes test now to see if you have it already. The type 1 IgG misses 30% of infections, and the type 2 IgG has some false positives, so they aren't perfect. You should know that going in, and consider that. If you are anxious and don't think you can handle a false positive that can take weeks and possibly several hundred dollars to unravel, then don't test. That's a fair decision, given your risk level.
You aren't at risk for gonorrhea, chlamydia, NGU, mycoplasma, or HIV, since the head of your penis was covered.