HSV-2 from oral sex?

[grateful]

I’d like to thank you for your website, forum and ebook. I’m very appreciative for having access to them.

I’m in a long-term relationship with a man who has had coldsores since childhood. He once had a very mild genital outbreak, after sex with a previous partner, 25-30 years ago. It never returned. In our 15 years together, he has had coldsores occasionally, but we’re very careful and he’s never passed anything on to me.

We recently had an exchange with a girl who has a five-year herpes history. She’s been tested, but doesn’t remember which type she has.

About five days later, our friend experienced a genital outbreak. My partner showed no signs of anything, but about ten days after our encounter, I discovered a single sore on my lip. This was preceded by about two days of significant lower spinal pain and body aches, along with headaches, a brief fever and a general feeling of malaise.

My friend’s herpes came from someone who had it on his mouth, but her first episode consisted of a very severe genital breakout, and mine on my mouth seems to be (so far) very mild.

My questions are:

1) I realize that only a test can provide certainty, but does pinpointed lower spinal pain, along with a mild oral outbreak (from a person who has had a severe genital outbreak) point to HSV-2 rather than HSV-1?

2) What would be the best way to test for what I have?

3) Is it possible for both my partner and my friend to get tested, if neither of them is currently showing symptoms?

4) If it is indeed HSV-2 that I have, does having it on the mouth provide me with immunity against a genital outbreak? Is it still possible for me to break out and/or transmit it from the genitals?

5) Once this outbreak is over, do I need to be concerned about spreading it via a) mouth-to-mouth kissing, or b) oral sex?

6) Is it possible for me to ever transmit it to my partner, since he has had both coldsores and a mild genital outbreak years ago, and didn’t contract anything from our friend, despite having the same interactions with her that I had?

7) Is it possible or likely for HSV-2 to spread to the eye? I got up one morning and foolishly rubbed my eye after touching not the lesion, but my lip near the lesion. I flushed it out immediately, but my eye got tingly for a while, though the tingling subsided quickly. If it did spread to the eye, would I know right away, or could it incubate for a while?

8) How long can I expect to wait before this current lesion heals? It’s been almost seven days since I first noticed the stinging in my lip, and five days since I realized it was actually a sore.

9) Is it still possible for me to break out in more sores?

Thank you so much, Terri.

[Terri Warren]

1) I realize that only a test can provide certainty, but does pinpointed lower spinal pain, along with a mild oral outbreak (from a person who has had a severe genital outbreak) point to HSV-2 rather than HSV-1?

The only way to know whether this is herpes or not, much less what type, is to have it tested. There is no way to know from your description what it might be.

2) What would be the best way to test for what I have?

I would suggest a baseline type specific IgG antibody test as well as a swab test of the mild outbreak.

3) Is it possible for both my partner and my friend to get tested, if neither of them is currently showing symptoms?

Yes, type specific antibody testing will let you know where people stood before this encounter. How long ago was it?

4) If it is indeed HSV-2 that I have, does having it on the mouth provide me with immunity against a genital outbreak? Is it still possible for me to break out and/or transmit it from the genitals?
Having HSV 2 orally does provide protection against acquiring it genitally.

5) Once this outbreak is over, do I need to be concerned about spreading it via a) mouth-to-mouth kissing, or b) oral sex?
If it is herpes, then it can be transmitted can be spread from your mouth to the mouth of others as well as by you giving oral sex to others

6) Is it possible for me to ever transmit it to my partner, since he has had both coldsores and a mild genital outbreak years ago, and didn’t contract anything from our friend, despite having the same interactions with her that I had?

Since you don’t know if the genital outbreak was herpes and if so what type I can’t really answer that question.

7) Is it possible or likely for HSV-2 to spread to the eye? I got up one morning and foolishly rubbed my eye after touching not the lesion, but my lip near the lesion. I flushed it out immediately, but my eye got tingly for a while, though the tingling subsided quickly. If it did spread to the eye, would I know right away, or could it incubate for a while?

If you got herpes in your eye, I think you would probably notice it quickly after becoming infected.

8) How long can I expect to wait before this current lesion heals? It’s been almost seven days since I first noticed the stinging in my lip, and five days since I realized it was actually a sore.

It could take a week or two if it is truly new infection. I hope you will seek out testing from the lesion before it is too healed

9) Is it still possible for me to break out in more sores?

It is possible, yes.

What sort of sexual contact did you have with this person? Is the friend a female? Did you and your partner both have sex with her?

Terri

[grateful]

Hi again Terri… This post is from last year, but your response really helped me at the time.

The girl I mentioned above has had genital herpes for five years, and recently, her breakouts had decreased to only about once a year. But in the past six months, she’s started to have smaller breakouts more frequently. The sores only appear at the top of her bottom and they only appear for a few days. It’s always around the time of her period.

She’s been assuming that they are herpes lesions, but lately is starting to wonder if maybe they’re something else. They seem the same, but they don’t go through the usual process. They just appear, then disappear within 1-2 days, without releasing any fluid. Only one sore appears in each outbreak. Since she started getting these, they’ve only appeared in that one place, and not on the genital area.

Is there anything she can do to prevent this from happening? And is there anything else it could be? Also, is it possible that a hormonal imbalance could be the cause of the outbreaks becoming more frequent? She also has some other symptoms such as skin problems, irregular periods (sometimes skipping them altogether) and around two years ago she was diagnosed with early signs of PCOS.

Thanks so much for your time.

[Terri Warren]

She may wish to have these lesions swab tested for herpes when they first appear – on the first day – so she can sort that out more accurately, and use PCR rather than culture if at all possible.
And yes, if these swab test positive for HSV 2, then you can do on daily antiviral therapy to reduce the risk of having outbreaks and also reduce the risk of infecting you.
Terri

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