Reply To: just want to know for sure

[wantToKnowForSure]

hi again Terri, one last post I think….

trying to wrap my head around all of this…

1) I test positive for HSV-2

2) to the best of my knowledge I have never had any outbreak/symptoms (or so minor I did not notice and
I’m pretty aware) which means based on statistics that it is most likely genital HSV-2 (vs oral HSV-2)
and at this point there really is not a practical way to know this for sure

3) to the best of my ability to get tested I am negative for HSV-1 and now since I already have
HSV-2 it is very unlikely that I will ever acquire HSV-1 at this point

4) given my sexual history when I was younger and the prevalence of HSV-1 in general, it is quite
possible I have been positive for HSV-2 for quite some time and just never knew because I had no
symptoms and did not specifically get tested until relatively recently

5) I still have some anxiety around infecting any potential new partner even if I have done “the talk”
and allowed them to choose…

In your book in the chapter on transmission there is a question about whether a long-term partner will
always eventually get infected. Your response says that there is some belief that uninfected people in
LTR with positive partners develop an immune response that may protect them…Has this theory been
tested or proved/disproved or abandoned? How would this show up in the uninfected partner?…presumably
not as antibodies in a blood test…

thanks for all your help/answers