Reply To: HSV1 positive – hoping for clarity

[zasm]

(Continued)

Refrained from sexual contact but did not inform new sexual partner about my update since I did not want to spark a panic before having true information.

Following Monday, testing site informs that I tested positive for HSV1 (negative for HSV2) and should not engage in any sexual activity at all.

Quite honestly, I’ve been a mess over this. I feel horribly irresponsible for not confirming my numbers before assuming negative HSV status and am extremely scared that I have put my new sexual partner at risk and betrayed her trust.

I will be disclosing my HSV1 status to the her but want to have concrete information beforehand so that we can both be as properly informed as possible- and I have lost trust in my testing site based off of how they handled my tests.

My questions:

1. Based off of my two sexual encounters with the new partner, is there a high risk of me having passed her the virus, either orally or genitally or both? (assuming she was negative for HSV1 prior)

2. If my new partner does not exhibit symptoms within one week of sexual contact, is it safe to assume that she did not contract HSV1? Or at least did not get a new HSV1 infection from me?

3. What is the proper procedure for taking antivirals while asymptomatic? Should I take antivirals for days prior to sexual contact? What value will this have for sexual partners if they do not have HSV1?