Ahhhhh. That makes much more sense. Thanks for clearing everything up!
You have to be infected with it orally in order for it to shed orally. You don't shed with it orally if you only have it genitally. sorry I misunderstood what you were really asking about this.
The study that you are referring too look at males who had it in the oral area first and then got it genitally later on or had it in both places initially.
grace
Sorry to be such a pain but just to clarify. You said "even if they have it in the first place". Are you referring to oral hsv 2? My question was regarding a genital hsv 2 infection only and whether the virus sheds orally. Thanks again for your patience
yup - that's if they even have it in the first place.
grace
I just read your reply and you state that in non HIV + people, the virus sheds 1.1% of the time. So basically, someone with a genital hsv 2 infection sheds hsv2 orally around 4 days a year?
I actually replied in that post you are referring to and I think if you read that reply again it'll make more sense about just how pertinent in general that study is to you.
that's where the HHP part of my name here comes from - herpes homepage :)
grace
Thanks Grace. I figured that this isn't an issue. However, is there some underlying reason why this isn't an issue? Is it due to the fact that the amount shed isn't enough to cause an infection or is there just not enough data to make conclusions regarding oral shedding. Thanks again.
only about 3% of folks have hsv2 orally. Of those who do, it doesn't reoccur very often and on average only sheds about 1% of days.
Unless you are immunocompromised, odds are this isn't an issue for you.
grace
Here is a link to the forum where the article is referenced:
http://www.racoon.com/dcforum/news/1141.html