1) Have you experienced or heard of cases where a first outbreak of genital hsv2 heals and recovers in less than a week (completely gone in 5-7 days)? I understand the recovery time is typically 2-4 weeks for an initial outbreak and significantly less for subsequent ones. However, could healing time for initial outbreaks be significantly reduced to a matter of days/1 week if one takes an antiviral within 48 hours of the first sores appearing? Are there others factors that could reduce the healing time of an initial hsv2 outbreak to less than a week (such as prior exposure to hsv1 or size of the sore)?
Yes, that is possible particularly the case in people who already have HSV 1.
2) I have Herpetic whitlow, how confident can I be that I have not transferred it to my genitals or mouth? I have just recovered from my first (and I pray last) outbreak, which took about 5 weeks for scabs to fall off and heal. During the time of my outbreak I was very careful to bandage the wounds and not touch my genital region. If I did not suffer any outbreak on the mouth or genitals at the time of my initial whitlow outbreak, can I be confident that I avoided transferring it there? Or is there a risk that I may have transferred it there without experiencing any sores, and thus sores may emerge there in the future?
That’s a difficult question to answer since it is impossible to prove a negative. But if I were you, I would look back at the contact that you had to get whitlow and if there was no genital or oral sex involved in that experience, within 2-10 days, I would say it is very likely that it is confined to your finger.
Terri
3) I have read that Herpetic Whitlow cannot transfer unless there is a visible sore present. What about if there are breaks in the skin (such as hangnails)? Could the virus get out then?
Probably not no
4) In your experience, do people who have Herpetic whitlow inevitably end up transferring it to other areas? Or are they usually able to contain it to just the finger? Is there any chance the virus could migrate through my nervous system and pop up in my genital region?
They are usually able to contain it to a finger, but very often people get it on their finger because they have it another place already.
Terri