Straw sharing worry

[Nervousmom]

Hi! I very occasionally get cold sores on my lower lip. I work in healthcare and am well-informed about HSV. I have two children and have always been worried about passing what I presume is HSV-1 to them. Although I know that a large percentage of adults have HSV-1, and that children often acquire the virus during childhood and are overall fine, I also know that the sores are painful and do not want to be responsible for sharing a virus that can cause pain or even more serious things such as encephalitis. For that reason, I am EXTREMELY careful about not sharing drinks with them (even if no sore is present, which they usually are not) or kissing them on the mouth.

However, a couple of days ago, they each got milkshakes and I took a sip of one. The other kid always wants things to be equal, so I took a sip of his one, too (i.e. I used both straws). I have no idea what got into me to do that, but an hour or so later, I felt tingling on my lip and immediately knew I was going to get a sore (did not have anything open at the time but noticed slight swelling). Since then, I have been so worried that I put them at risk. I think at least a minute went by in between my sip and their first sips, but there may still have been saliva on the straws, and I know that once prodromal symptoms are happening, there is virus in saliva. I have looked at so many different sources trying to determine how high the risk is that they will get HSV based on this event, but even medical sites are conflicting. Some say the risk is low but then also list not sharing drinks as an important thing to do. Some say it absolutely transmits that way, and others say it is not possible.

I am wondering what you think of the level of risk is for the situation (someone using a straw around a minute after another person with prodromal symptoms but no open sore used that straw) and what you would base that opinion on, as there is so much conflicting information even from medical sources.

[Terri Warren]

We believe that this risk of sharing HSV through drinks or utensils or straws is incredibly low, regardless of what you read.

I think the risk of your kids getting HSV 1 from this experience is also incredibly low. If they were going to get HSV 1 from this experience, they would likely show symptoms within 2-10 days, with 5.5 being the average. The fact that the drinks were very cold may also be helpful, but again, the risk anyway is very low indeed!

Terri

[Author]

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