Genital HSV-I Risk

[DG_Rider]

First, I’d like to thank you for running this site.

I am positive for HSV-I; I get a visible cold sore on the side of my mouth twice a year at most.  I refrain from oral sex when I have a visible sore (which I can quickly treat with Abreva) and for at least a week after it has healed.  

Assuming my partner is also HSV-I positive, what is the risk of contracting genital HSV-I? Secondly, I’d like to know if Valtrex would further reduce the risk?

Basically, I am wondering if I need to inform any potential partner of my HSV-I status before intimacy, and how to reduce the chances of spreading it to the genital area once our HSV-I status is known.

Kindest regards,

DG Rider

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

People with HSV are immune, or at least highly resistant, to a new infection with the same virus type, anywhere on the body.  Any HSV-1 positive partners you may have are not at significant risk of catching your HSV-1 infection, either by kissing or by oral sex.  Since the risk is virtually zero, this is not a valid reason to take Valtrex; you can't lower zero risk any further.

It's going a bit overboard to expect your sex partners to be tested for HSV-1.  Even if you find a partner who isn't infected, you're already taking pretty effective precautions by avoiding kissing and oral sex when you're having an outbreak.  If and when you enter a committed relationrship, I would leave this up to your partner; certainly you shouldn't insist on it.  However, if someday you have an HSV-1 negative (or untested) partner who is pregnant, you should entirely avoid performing cunnilingus during the last 3 months of pregnancy, to avoid even a small risk of transmission of HSV to the baby at delivery-- an often fatal event.

These questions have been addressed innumerable times on this forum.  You can search both the existing threads and the archives and find many other discussions.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I agree too.  But that's not something the moderators have any control over.  I'll pass the concern on to Med Help administration.  It might help if users also made some comments through the Contact link.

[gracefromHHP]

I agree - the search function here does leave quite a bit to be desired :(    

grace

[DG_Rider]

"These questions have been addressed innumerable times on this forum."

Indeed, I found much of this information when I looked further into the forum archives after I posted the question.  It might help if questions on a topic were sorted by relevence rather than date (just a website navigation issue).  Despite the "Was this answer helpful to you" feature, I couldn't find a way to sort the Q&A's accordingly.

That said, I thank you for your reply.