question about transmitting

[gcpaw111]

hi I'm new on this forum. My bf was just recently diagnosed with genital hsv 1. Its been really hard on me (i am getting tested) and I am trying to learn more about the whole situation.

I know there are medicines to help reduce outbreaks, and I would use condoms during sexual intercourse but would it also help lower the risk of transmitting it to me if we cleaned the genital area with soap, alcohol or peroxide?

[nycgirl87]

I definitely wouldn't recommend alcohol or peroxide- plus since it is a virus it comes from within, it is not just on a topical issue. medicines can reduce outbreaks by a lot, and basically the main thing is keeping the immune system healthy to help prevent outbreaks. sleeping enough, eating well, exercising, taking vitamins, things like that. Keep in mind that unless you are going through an outbreak, a blood test cannot 100% tell you if you do or do not have the virus.

[gcpaw111]

thanks for the reply! That does make a lot of sense now that i think about it. I thought cleaning the area might help with asymptomatic viral shedding. it sucks that blood tests doesnt tell you for sure if you have it or not! so far i have not had any outbreaks at all.

[RealisticGal]

hi I'm new on this forum. My bf was just recently diagnosed with genital hsv 1. Its been really hard on me (i am getting tested) and I am trying to learn more about the whole situation.

I know there are medicines to help reduce outbreaks, and I would use condoms during sexual intercourse but would it also help lower the risk of transmitting it to me if we cleaned the genital area with soap, alcohol or peroxide?

There is a bit to learn all at once, isn't there? The good news is, you have found a really good place to learn here. The links on the right side of this page have a wealth of balanced information explained well.

I agree with nycgirl87 about skipping the harsh chemicals on sensitive skin. It might actually lead to an outbreak by irritating the skin, theoretically.

Soap and water inactivate the herpes simplex virus. So if you are really worried about it, he could take a shower and cleanse the area prior to sex. Theoretically, that would deactivate and wash away any viral particles that happened to be sitting on the skin surface at that moment.

Just one point I'll make, though. I am in a relationship with a man who has GHSV. The last thing I want to do is make him feel like a Hazardous Material Incident. Sort of a buzz kill. Just something to consider.

The use (by him) of antiviral medications should decrease your bf's shedding rate by about 50%. The use of condoms, and avoiding contact during an active outbreak, will further decrease the chance of transmission.

There is nothing that will eliminate the chance to zero. That is the main thing to keep in mind, and the thing you need to be able to accept --- that there is always some amount of chance you could contract herpes at any time. If you can't accept that you might get herpes even while taking all possible precautions, you should figure that out and decide what to do.

Type specific IgG-based blood tests are actually pretty accurate, and they are NOT dependent on timing as far as outbreaks. You can take a blood test at any time, not just during an outbreak, and expect the same level of accuracy. The reason you might get a false negative result is if you have a very new infection. In that case, your immune system might not have formed antibodies yet (which is what the blood tests measure).

The problem is, blood tests will not tell you where you have an infection if they come back positive for herpes. So it is quite possible you could have HSV1 according to a blood test and it could be an oral infection. About 80% of the North American population has oral herpes, so there is a pretty good chance of that.

Don't forget to explore the links on this page. They should help you answer a lot of your questions.

[ScaryJimmy]

If you have HSV-1 orally (cold sores) then you have a fairly high immunity from contracting it genitally. And, definitely don't be too hard on your boyfriend. There's a fairly high chance that he caught HSV-1 from you during oral sex.

[gcpaw111]

hi all. thanks for the replies!

I actually only had 1 other sexual partner so far while he has had a lot more so we believe that its most likely that he caught it from someone before I came along. I know that we can never really know for sure who gave who it and thats not even important to us. I'm trying to not make him feel awful about himself. The first day we found out about his diagnoses, I was scared of catching it even thought we were abstaining from sex. I made him feel like a leper....i felt really bad and of course i apologized several times. I was not very educated about it but now I'm doing a lot of research. this site has been really helpful! I'm a lot calmer about it after doing a lot of reading.

yes i understand that there is always going to be a risk and I most likely have to go into the relationship knowing that I will eventually get it. Its still scary though and really rough for me to handle. I dont think I got a type specific blood test. I will ask for that at my next appointment.

[RealisticGal]

yes i understand that there is always going to be a risk and I most likely have to go into the relationship knowing that I will eventually get it. Its still scary though and really rough for me to handle. I dont think I got a type specific blood test. I will ask for that at my next appointment.

Feel free to talk with me. As the partner of someone with herpes, we have our own special concerns.

Be sure the blood test you get is IgG-based. IgM tests are old technology that is unreliable.

As far as what Jimmy said about your bf getting genital HSV1 from you...that is possible even though you have only had one other partner. If you have oral herpes, you could easily have gotten it from casual (non-sexual) contact while you were a child. That's how most folks get oral herpes.

However, it's also highly possible he got it from a previous partner.

Take care and keep on learning...

[ScaryJimmy]

If you and your boyfriend have been dating for awhile and he only recently got an outbreak then I would guess that he acquired HSV-1 from you - which is good! If you have HSV-1 on your mouth, then you have a certain level of immunity from acquiring it on your genitals. And, HSV-1 on the genitals sheds considerably less than HSV-2.

In your position, I would be hoping that your test comes back positive for HSV-1.