GSVH1 Follow up

[Kingbreak95]

Hi Terri!

I lost my password to my old account, I created a new one to ask you follow up questions. Below is my last post to remind you:

Hi Terri!

I read your responses and really appreciate how thorough, considerate, and direct you are with your responses. I’ve done countless amount of research online over the years but want your opinion mainly on transmission in my situation:

I am 27 now, and contracted ghsv1 (and oral same time) when I was 18. It was from oral.

I only had one initial outbreak, and NEVER anything since. Not one.

This has been a whirlwind for my anxiety/mental health. At first, I thought it was hsv2, and lived my life that way for two years. Then me and the girl I got it both got blood tests and both of ours were negative for hsv2, positive for 1.

This made sense, but made things more gray in terms of transmission/disclosure.

I’ve had a few girlfriends since, literally no one has had a problem with it after explaining it, but I am still figuring out the most reasonably, peaceful way to live my life with this incredibly common thing. (I usually just tell women I have sex with more than once, or enter a relationship with and we dont wear protection)

From this description, I ask my q’s:
1. Am I reasonably putting anybody at risk if I wear protection during intercourse?

2. After around 10 years of initial contraction, and I saw you say after 2 years it becomes 4 days out of the year shedding, is it possible that the virus is 100% dormant in my system?
(I don’t drink, smoke.. im in the fitness industry very healthy)

3. If not 100%, then do we have the data on shedding genitally after those 2 yrs?

4. I know this is up to the individual, but based on a variety of factors (most ppl have hsv1, been 10 years etc..), would you recommend disclosure on every sexual encounter? Even one night stands? (I always disclose for oral sex, but not genital)

I don’t want to make this more of a deal than it needs to be…

[Kingbreak95]

First of all, thank you for your responses. They make a lot of sense. My follow up questions:

1. Would your recommendations here be vastly different if it were Hsv2?

2. I got it that we don’t have data on shedding rates at 10 years, but can we assume that the shedding rate, generally, goes down even further based on length of infection? If no data, perhaps your educated guess?

3. I’m curious about your knowledge of the stigma about this… clearly as we see from this forum, there are thousands of people who unfortunately have psychology stress of something so benign…

I heard about the pharmaceutical companies creating the stigma around hsv as a whole in the 70s to sell more medication, is that myth or based in fact?

Thank you sm

[Terri Warren]

1. Am I reasonably putting anybody at risk if I wear protection during intercourse?
I doubt you would put anyone at risk using a condom!

2. After around 10 years of initial contraction, and I saw you say after 2 years it becomes 4 days out of the year shedding, is it possible that the virus is 100% dormant in my system?
(I don’t drink, smoke.. im in the fitness industry very healthy)
It is possible that it is 100% dormant, but there is no way to know that and I don’t think you can completely assume that.

3. If not 100%, then do we have the data on shedding genitally after those 2 yrs?
We don’t.

4. I know this is up to the individual, but based on a variety of factors (most ppl have hsv1, been 10 years etc..), would you recommend disclosure on every sexual encounter? Even one night stands? (I always disclose for oral sex, but not genital)
I think anyone who engages in a one night stand with requiring STD testing prior to intercourse takes some risk. If you use condoms with every one night stand, I don’t feel that disclosure is required in this situation.

1. Would your recommendations here be vastly different if it were Hsv2?
Yes

2. I got it that we don’t have data on shedding rates at 10 years, but can we assume that the shedding rate, generally, goes down even further based on length of infection? If no data, perhaps your educated guess?
Given no data, I don’t have a guess but if you forced me to guess, I would guess that it is likely lower, as we do have data on HSV 2 and it does get lower over the years, so I would use that as a model

3. I’m curious about your knowledge of the stigma about this… clearly as we see from this forum, there are thousands of people who unfortunately have psychology stress of something so benign…
I heard about the pharmaceutical companies creating the stigma around hsv as a whole in the 70s to sell more medication, is that myth or based in fact?

That is total BS. Drug companies are working hard to develop vaccines to prevent herpes and others are making vaccines to reduce viral shedding and recurrences in people who have herpes.

The definition of stigma is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. Stigma comes from society and it’s reaction to any disease that infects the genitalia and especially those that can’t be cured.

Terri

[Kingbreak95]

Thank you sm Terri for your response. All of this really helpful and puts things into perspective. You’re a queen.

I have some follow up questions to wrap it up:

1. If it were Hsv2 – would you recommend disclosure at every encounter? If so, why? I’m assuming because the risk is substantially higher right?

2. Would you recommend disclosure for oral sex still?

3. I read that you said g-to-g hsv1 tranmission hasn’t happened under your watch, but it’s in the literature. In the literature, did those examples all have oral sex that preceded it? Even weeks before because it could take that long to show up?

4. Shedding does not always ensure transmission correct? There needs to be a certain viral amount?

Thanks again for your expertise and putting things in perspective.

[Terri Warren]

1. If it were Hsv2 – would you recommend disclosure at every encounter? If so, why? I’m assuming because the risk is substantially higher right?
Yes, i would recommend disclosure with sexual encounters.

2. Would you recommend disclosure for oral sex still?
for you giving oral sex or receiving it? Probably neither is required

3. I read that you said g-to-g hsv1 tranmission hasn’t happened under your watch, but it’s in the literature. In the literature, did those examples all have oral sex that preceded it? Even weeks before because it could take that long to show up?
I don’t have that background information.

4. Shedding does not always ensure transmission correct? There needs to be a certain viral amount?
That correct, modeling shows it needs to be about 10 to the third numbers of copies for transmission to occur. But the thing is, you’ll never know the number of copies you are shedding so this is interesting but not particularly relevant.

Terri

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