Transmission Concerns – Gay sex

[AmsterRidge2]

I posted several weeks ago and lost my information, so I registered under this additional username. I’ll repeat my background information since this will not be attached to the previous post.

I am a gay man with a partner and we have an open relationship. In November, I had noticed a red line inside my penis on my urethra. I looked almost like a cut and there was a minor feeling of a pin prick. I went to an urgent care clinic and in addition to all the standard STIs, they decided I should be tested for herpes. They took some blood. They did not swab the inside of my penis/urethra or anywhere else. It came back with an IGG of 4.08. All the other standard STI tests were negative. My partner got tested and his results were negative. I am currently on 1 gram daily of Valocyclovir.

If I am not having any symptoms, what level of risk is there in transmitting it to my partner if I am receiving anal sex? Also, what about transmission through kissing or mutual masturbation? I’m also considering getting a Western Blot since I do not recall any other sores or lesions ever occurring in my genitals.

[Terri Warren]

First of all, if you’ve not had symptoms, I would confirm the HSV 2 result with a western blot.
We don’t have data on male to male transmission but we do have condom data for male to female sex which might be close to the same and that is that condoms reduce transmission by 96%. If you do indeed have HSV 2, there is no risk from kissing or mutual masturbation.

Terri

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