HSV-1 oral transmission question

[wataboy]

I recently split with my gf of 7 years (she was my first kiss & sexual encounter), I met another girl let’s call her “jess” and kissed her, she started getting sores in her mouth so we got tested for herpes and jess and I both tested positive for HSV-1 via blood tests. I’ve never had a sore in my life, but I guess I could be asymptomatic. Before we got our tests back I ended up giving her oral. After we got our tests back we started freaking out about the HSV-1 infecting her genital area. We tested 2 more times after that event and still tested positive for HSV-1 & negative for HSV-2. She hasn’t gotten any type of outbreaks on her genitals, only inside her mouth.

We’ve held off on oral since the scare but after researching and discovering about not being able to infect another part of the body with HSV-1 if you’ve built antibodies, we’ve started to question it.

So my question is, can we perform oral sex on each other if we’re both infected with HSV-1?

[Terri Warren]

I don’t promise anything, but if you both have well established HSV 1 infection, knowing that by a high HSV 1 index value on an IgG test, it is very unlikely that either you would get this in a new location on your bodies by practicing oral sex. However, sores in the mouth are most likely canker sores, not herpes, though they could be. We also don’t know where your infection is, correct?

Terri

[wataboy]

Before we met she was tested previously and was hsv 1 negative, after we kissed for a few days we got tested and we both tested positive for hsv 1. So we assume that it’s our oral due to the circumstances. She only ended up getting sores in her mouth after kissing, we’ve already had unprotected sex. I even performed oral sex on her once but no signs on her genitals or mine.

[Terri Warren]

So it’s hard to know if her first test missed her HSV 1 infection (it misses 30% of HSV 1 infections) or if it was a low number if it was a false positive or if she really has new infection.

Terri

[wataboy]

Understandable.

You say that if you already have hsv-1 in one location (mouth), it’s highly unlikely to get it in a new location (genital). So I guess if we just assume we both have oral hsv-1, are we safe to perform oral sex?

[Terri Warren]

I would say that is a very low risk activity for you both, IF her acquisition of oral HSV1 was more than about 3 months ago.

Terri

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