Herpes transmission via towel

[cigirl1979]

I have GHSV-2.

Here’s the scenario: I had a very small cut in the perineum area.
(Had just started daily suppressive Valtrex 500 mg/day about 5 or 6 days previous to this scenario). Over Christmas, I was visiting my parents at a resort in Arizona. My mom and I went to use the pool and hot tub. We went to the showers after. I showered. After the shower, I was drying off. I did not wipe the genital area directly with the towel. The towel didn’t touch the OB. I panicked, though, because my mom touched my towel with her hand after I dried off. About two minutes after she touched my towel, she scratched the side of her eye (not in the eye), scratched her nose and also her lip. She has red, raw skin under her nose that she is always rubbing.

So my worry goes like this: even though the towel didn’t touch the OB, what about the water from the genital region/OB slid down my legs and I dried my legs off with the towel, then mom touched my towel and then touched her face? Can the water sliding down my leg from the OB contain any virus? Is that even possible to spread herpes like that???

if the answer is a resounding HELL NO, then please tell me so! I have an OCD mind and I think that this scenario is far-fetched, but nevertheless, I am experiencing extreme anxiety and fear from this thought. Even more so now because it’s been ten days since this incident and my mom has a cold (head and sinus cold which started out with fever and body aches.)

Say the towel DID directly touch the OB, then mom touched the exact spot on the towel that touched the OB and then she touched her face, can herpes be spread like that? I’m concerned because she has that red raw skin under her nose which I would assume isn’t intact skin.

Being that my OB was so small (a tiny cut), does that mean it would contain less virus and wouldn’t contain enough virus to infect anyway?

So we have these factors:
– a very small OB which presumably contains a small amount of virus to begin with
– water from the shower dripping down leg from OB/genital area
– that water to the towel to mom’s hand
– two minutes time elapsed from when she touched towel to touched her face.
DO ALL THESE FACTORS TOGETHER RENDER THE VIRUS UNINFECTIOUS?

Do OBs contain less virus when on daily suppressive? (so just wondering if my cut would be less infectious anyway because of being on daily Valtrex 500 mg for 5/6 days prior to this incident.)

[cigirl1979]

I said I was on suppressive Valtrex five or six days prior to this incident. I looked at a calendar and it’s actually four or five days. Just letting you know in case that affects how you answer the question

[Terri Warren]

The answer is simple – a resounding HELL NO!

Yes, OBs contain less virus while on suppression and four or five days is probably adequate for the effect. The amount of virus that you are talking about here is very small and there was no direct contact between the towel and your lesions. There has to be a certain volume of virus to cause infection; I don’t think you have that or an effective method for transmission.

Terri

[cigirl1979]

1. The fact that my mom got sick 10 days later, does that have anything to do with it? Does sickness alone indicate infection or does it always have to be accompanied by the OB?

2. So water dripping down my leg from the OB and then me wiping my leg with my towel is of no concern? Would the water kill the virus? Would the two minute time elapse from her touching the towel to the time she touched her face be enough time to kill the virus? Does HSV-2 not like the facial area as much anyway?

3. Percentage-wise, would you say 100% that this is a nonissue scenario?

4. Does this question sound far-fetched and irrational to you?

5. Say the towel DID directly touch the OB, then mom touched the exact spot on the towel that touched the OB and then she touched her face, can herpes be spread like that? I’m concerned because she has that red raw skin under her nose which I would assume isn’t intact skin.

6. Does Valtrex get out of the system in 5 to 7 days regardless if a person has been on it for, say, one month or one year or five years?

7. “The virus is transmitted from the penis, anus, top of scrotum in men. Outbreaks can occur anywhere in the boxer shorts area, but the thick skin of the buttocks and thighs are abdomen do not allow for viral shedding. Viral shedding only happens in areas of the body with very thin skin.” I’m female but I read this from another post in the forum and it confuses me. For example, I don’t understand how you can’t shed from buttocks but you can get an OB on buttocks. I don’t understand the difference here between transmitted, outbreaks, and shedding–I thought those were all the same thing. Can you explain this for a female body as opposed to the male example quoted here. I remember reading on the forum “from the waist to the mid thigh.” I’m not sure if that’s in relation to the boxer shorts area.

8. I have had herpes for a number of years, but I was recently diagnosed after being misdiagnosed with negative swabs, no primary, small OBs that didn’t represent herpes. Anyway, so I’ve had it a number of years and lived my life normally, as in I didn’t take precautions with towels like my scenario above and everyone turned out fine. And I’m sure there would have been times where incidents did occur that if they happened now, I would be concerned about them, just like I am with this towel incident. Now that I know I have it, EVERY little scenario runs through my head and I’m terrified of infecting others. I guess how do you propose I go about life without feeling like a contagion? As you’ll read below, I’m scared now that every little bump on my body is related to H.

9. I also worry now about every little bump I find, whereas before my dx, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. For example, I get single pimple-like bumps on my torso area and they can go as high up as the top of the ribs. Like, I’ll have one bump by my belly button, one bump by my ribs, one bump on my sternum. The bumps sometimes seem to have clear fluid in them and other times just a reddish bump. Sometimes they seem like a clogged pore. They are small in size. They don’t itch or hurt and are not accompanied by any tingling or burning. Being that I’ve had H for a number of years and only ever had OBs in my perineum and anal area, are pimple-like bumps on my torso area likely not related to H? I don’t believe I would have autoinoculated myself whenever I first contracted H. If I did autoinoculate myself, I would’ve known it, right? I’m concerned that these bumps on my stomach are from autoinoculation and I just didn’t notice until now. Is that possible? I don’t know if I need to be concerned that these bumps are infectious. If these bumps disappear or don’t disappear on the daily Valtrex, will that indicate whether or not they are H?

10. One day recently I noticed on-and-off tingling in my right thumb. I would describe it as a twitching/pinched nerve feeling. The feeling would last for a few seconds and go away. It happened about five or so times throughout the day. The next day I had a fluid-filled small bump on the inside of my right wrist. The fluid was clear. The bump didn’t hurt or itch or tingle or bother me at all. Would the thumb twitching be a prodrome followed by an OB on the wrist? The bump lasted about three days. I was also on the daily suppressive Valtrex for at least a week by the time of this incident.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by cigirl1979.

[Terri Warren]

So Hell No didn’t do it, huh?

1. The fact that my mom got sick 10 days later, does that have anything to do with it? Does sickness alone indicate infection or does it always have to be accompanied by the OB?

Did your mom get sick with genital lesions? If not, it has no bearing.

2. So water dripping down my leg from the OB and then me wiping my leg with my towel is of no concern? Would the water kill the virus? Would the two minute time elapse from her touching the towel to the time she touched her face be enough time to kill the virus? Does HSV-2 not like the facial area as much anyway?
Water dripping is not a concern. Water does not kill the virus but it does dilute it. Two minutes elapsing does help virus die. HSV 2 does not like the facial area.

3. Percentage-wise, would you say 100% that this is a nonissue scenario?

Yes, 100%

4. Does this question sound far-fetched and irrational to you?

It sounds neither far fetched nor irrational, just really uninformed about herpes is transmitted between people.

5. Say the towel DID directly touch the OB, then mom touched the exact spot on the towel that touched the OB and then she touched her face, can herpes be spread like that? I’m concerned because she has that red raw skin under her nose which I would assume isn’t intact skin.

Is it possible in the whole world that this could happen? I suppose. Is it the way herpes is transmitted? NO

6. Does Valtrex get out of the system in 5 to 7 days regardless if a person has been on it for, say, one month or one year or five years?

Yes

7. “The virus is transmitted from the penis, anus, top of scrotum in men. Outbreaks can occur anywhere in the boxer shorts area, but the thick skin of the buttocks and thighs are abdomen do not allow for viral shedding. Viral shedding only happens in areas of the body with very thin skin.” I’m female but I read this from another post in the forum and it confuses me. For example, I don’t understand how you can’t shed from buttocks but you can get an OB on buttocks. I don’t understand the difference here between transmitted, outbreaks, and shedding–I thought those were all the same thing. Can you explain this for a female body as opposed to the male example quoted here. I remember reading on the forum “from the waist to the mid thigh.” I’m not sure if that’s in relation to the boxer shorts area.

It should read that the virus is shed from those areas, more accurately. The skin of the buttocks is too think for virus to emerge from the nerve endings. The nerve endings in the genital area are very close to the surface, which makes sex so much fun and the tissue able to shed virus. Yes, the waist to mid thigh refers to the boxer shorts area.

8. I have had herpes for a number of years, but I was recently diagnosed after being misdiagnosed with negative swabs, no primary, small OBs that didn’t represent herpes. Anyway, so I’ve had it a number of years and lived my life normally, as in I didn’t take precautions with towels like my scenario above and everyone turned out fine. And I’m sure there would have been times where incidents did occur that if they happened now, I would be concerned about them, just like I am with this towel incident. Now that I know I have it, EVERY little scenario runs through my head and I’m terrified of infecting others. I guess how do you propose I go about life without feeling like a contagion? As you’ll read below, I’m scared now that every little bump on my body is related to H.

I strongly suggest that you get psychological help for what sounds very much like an OCD problem now.

9. I also worry now about every little bump I find, whereas before my dx, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. For example, I get single pimple-like bumps on my torso area and they can go as high up as the top of the ribs. Like, I’ll have one bump by my belly button, one bump by my ribs, one bump on my sternum. The bumps sometimes seem to have clear fluid in them and other times just a reddish bump. Sometimes they seem like a clogged pore. They are small in size. They don’t itch or hurt and are not accompanied by any tingling or burning. Being that I’ve had H for a number of years and only ever had OBs in my perineum and anal area, are pimple-like bumps on my torso area likely not related to H? I don’t believe I would have autoinoculated myself whenever I first contracted H. If I did autoinoculate myself, I would’ve known it, right? I’m concerned that these bumps on my stomach are from autoinoculation and I just didn’t notice until now. Is that possible? I don’t know if I need to be concerned that these bumps are infectious. If these bumps disappear or don’t disappear on the daily Valtrex, will that indicate whether or not they are H?

These bumps do not sound anything like herpes to me. Autoinoculation occurs almost always during the first four months of infection when an immune response has not yet been established. If they are not herpes, they will disappear anyway, regardless of Valtrex use.

Terri

[Author]

Posts