Reply To: Worried sick about potential straw transmission

[WorriedFearful]

Hi Terri,

I just thought I’d add a bit of context to my posts. My friend that has genital herpes has been through an immensely tough time mentally because of it. I think watching them struggle emotionally because of it for 10+ years and trying to comfort them through all the tears has made me extremely scared of contracting hsv (Presuming I don’t already have hsv asymptomatically).

I think my main fear is that if my friend does have oral herpes also, and has transmitted it to me that even if I don’t show symptoms I could pass it to my partner genitally during oral sex.

I have been in a monogamous relationship for over 5 years and neither of us have shown symptoms or been tested for hsv before. My partners’ view is that if I don’t develop cold sores then we shouldn’t worry about it but I’m concerned that a few months down the line I’ll still have this “what if?” in the back of my mind. I’m worried that I’d be anticipating symptoms appearing months down the line.

1.I’m wondering if you think it would be worth getting screened via an igg test for hsv1 and hsv2 as a baseline now and seeing what the results are?

2.I know that my friend still has outbreaks at least a couple of times per year and had them even more frequently in the first few years after contracting the virus. Would this make it more likely to be hsv2 genitally rather than hsv1 genitally?

3.Can hsv2 be present both genitally and orally in one person?

4.Is it correct that saliva has antiviral properties which could protect against contracting the virus up to a certain volume?