Herpes Whitlow on Finger, Can it go Genital?

[dimsumdrizzy]

Hi there,

I recently (female) was diagnosed with HSV2 genitally, and unfortunately my boyfriend contracted it on his finger (herpetic whitlow) when I was asymptomatic as he bites his nails.

Since he has the antibodies now to HSV2, is it still possible for herpes to show up on his genitals if we have sex with a condom and I am on antivirals daily?

Thank you.

[dimsumdrizzy]

I wanted to add, prior to his finger becoming infected he had tested negative for HSV many times. Does him having whitlow now act as a “vaccination” against getting it in his genital region?

[Terri Warren]

If you are certain that he doesn’t have it genitally and only on his finger, yes, this will essentially serve as a vaccination against genital infection. I am assuming that a swab test was done of the finger lesion and it was positive for HSV 2. So he was not your boyfriend when you were diagnosed with HSV 2, is that correct?

Terri

[dimsumdrizzy]

Thanks so much for your response Terri. I’ve been reading the forums and they have a lot of great info.

Does the “vaccination” effectively mean that there doesn’t need to be a worry about transmission of HSV2 to his genitals or oral, even if engaged in unprotected sex?

Also to answer your question: we had been seeing each other since November 2021, and my first outbreak occurred in March 2022. Prior to that I had 2 different partners over the summer and one of them turned out was positive for HSV2.

After my outbreak in March 2022 my boyfriend did 4 blood tests for hsv1/hsv2 which all turned up negative between March-May. He contracted whitlow in mid-May and confirmed it with a swab.

[Terri Warren]

I am assuming that his blood tests were for IgG, not IgM, correct?
Were you also having intercourse with him when he got whitlow? Unprotected or protected?
It really isn’t possible to know with 100% certainty that he doesn’t have this genitally if you were also having intercourse at the same time BUT if it is only on his finger, then it is very likely that he will not contract HSV 2 genitally or orally in the future.

Terri

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