Can I kiss my boyfriend?

[ruhroh]

Hi everyone

I've recently had my second HSV1 outbreak (my first occurred in May), and I'm going to be seeing my boyfriend in a couple of days. I'm not sure if it will have cleared up properly by then, though hopefully it will as I'm supplementing coconut oil and lysine, and applying tea tree to dry it out and then coconut oil to help it heal! My boyfriend has had a cold sore in the past about 3 years ago and hasn't had one since (he didn't give it to me, this was before we met) - if I'm not properly healed could I give it to him again? I know he'll have antibodies but aren't there different strains of HSV1?

I've looked into it but there's so much conflicting information out there I thought you guys would probably know best!

[JBnATL]

Hi there, this is a good question.  No there are not different strains of HSV1, so if your bf already has it you can't give it to him again.  About the only bad that could come from kissing him if you are not completely healed is that your sore might be prolonged if it is irritated.  

Be careful if you give him oral sex because there is a slight chance you could give it to him genital.  So wait until you are completely healed before performing oral.

Good luck!

JB

[piercen54]

Be careful regarding the same....

[VVK]

I'll have to correct JB in this case as there are different strains of HSV-1 and HSV-2.
Refer to: http://jvi.asm.org/content/86/17/9540.full

The bigger question is whether antibodies for one HSV-1 strain are effective against another HSV-1 strain. I don't have an answer for that but I think it would be highly likely that they would be effective.

Seeing as how this topic is about a month old, if you ever stop back here @ruhroh do tell how it went