So Hell No didn’t do it, huh?
1. The fact that my mom got sick 10 days later, does that have anything to do with it? Does sickness alone indicate infection or does it always have to be accompanied by the OB?
Did your mom get sick with genital lesions? If not, it has no bearing.
2. So water dripping down my leg from the OB and then me wiping my leg with my towel is of no concern? Would the water kill the virus? Would the two minute time elapse from her touching the towel to the time she touched her face be enough time to kill the virus? Does HSV-2 not like the facial area as much anyway?
Water dripping is not a concern. Water does not kill the virus but it does dilute it. Two minutes elapsing does help virus die. HSV 2 does not like the facial area.
3. Percentage-wise, would you say 100% that this is a nonissue scenario?
Yes, 100%
4. Does this question sound far-fetched and irrational to you?
It sounds neither far fetched nor irrational, just really uninformed about herpes is transmitted between people.
5. Say the towel DID directly touch the OB, then mom touched the exact spot on the towel that touched the OB and then she touched her face, can herpes be spread like that? I’m concerned because she has that red raw skin under her nose which I would assume isn’t intact skin.
Is it possible in the whole world that this could happen? I suppose. Is it the way herpes is transmitted? NO
6. Does Valtrex get out of the system in 5 to 7 days regardless if a person has been on it for, say, one month or one year or five years?
Yes
7. “The virus is transmitted from the penis, anus, top of scrotum in men. Outbreaks can occur anywhere in the boxer shorts area, but the thick skin of the buttocks and thighs are abdomen do not allow for viral shedding. Viral shedding only happens in areas of the body with very thin skin.” I’m female but I read this from another post in the forum and it confuses me. For example, I don’t understand how you can’t shed from buttocks but you can get an OB on buttocks. I don’t understand the difference here between transmitted, outbreaks, and shedding–I thought those were all the same thing. Can you explain this for a female body as opposed to the male example quoted here. I remember reading on the forum “from the waist to the mid thigh.” I’m not sure if that’s in relation to the boxer shorts area.
It should read that the virus is shed from those areas, more accurately. The skin of the buttocks is too think for virus to emerge from the nerve endings. The nerve endings in the genital area are very close to the surface, which makes sex so much fun and the tissue able to shed virus. Yes, the waist to mid thigh refers to the boxer shorts area.
8. I have had herpes for a number of years, but I was recently diagnosed after being misdiagnosed with negative swabs, no primary, small OBs that didn’t represent herpes. Anyway, so I’ve had it a number of years and lived my life normally, as in I didn’t take precautions with towels like my scenario above and everyone turned out fine. And I’m sure there would have been times where incidents did occur that if they happened now, I would be concerned about them, just like I am with this towel incident. Now that I know I have it, EVERY little scenario runs through my head and I’m terrified of infecting others. I guess how do you propose I go about life without feeling like a contagion? As you’ll read below, I’m scared now that every little bump on my body is related to H.
I strongly suggest that you get psychological help for what sounds very much like an OCD problem now.
9. I also worry now about every little bump I find, whereas before my dx, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. For example, I get single pimple-like bumps on my torso area and they can go as high up as the top of the ribs. Like, I’ll have one bump by my belly button, one bump by my ribs, one bump on my sternum. The bumps sometimes seem to have clear fluid in them and other times just a reddish bump. Sometimes they seem like a clogged pore. They are small in size. They don’t itch or hurt and are not accompanied by any tingling or burning. Being that I’ve had H for a number of years and only ever had OBs in my perineum and anal area, are pimple-like bumps on my torso area likely not related to H? I don’t believe I would have autoinoculated myself whenever I first contracted H. If I did autoinoculate myself, I would’ve known it, right? I’m concerned that these bumps on my stomach are from autoinoculation and I just didn’t notice until now. Is that possible? I don’t know if I need to be concerned that these bumps are infectious. If these bumps disappear or don’t disappear on the daily Valtrex, will that indicate whether or not they are H?
These bumps do not sound anything like herpes to me. Autoinoculation occurs almost always during the first four months of infection when an immune response has not yet been established. If they are not herpes, they will disappear anyway, regardless of Valtrex use.
Terri