Types and transmission?

[Aziggy]

So about a week and a half ago I had a major (first ever) HSV1 (down south HELL) OB.  Told my boyfriend of three years immediately, and hes been super supportive. 

First ot blows my mind that after three years this all of a sudden just came out of no where but I guess this is something that could have been around forever just waiting for me to have a shit immune system to wreak havoc. Any way my boyfriend has had cold sores ocassionally, only one at a time over the years so he may have it orally already. Blood test is scheduled for tuesday for both of us since they screwed mine up during my OB and ordered the wrong test.

When we get results we want to understand them...so theres really 4 types of HSV right? Oral and genital of each type; hsv1 and hsv2?

My ob was positive for hsv1 genital, and im pretty sure his coldsores are hsv1 oral...We just are trying to think of and understand where or physical relationship can proceed or stop depending on the results ya know what I mean? The blood test isnt going to tell us who has what where though right?

if you have hsv1 is it a given you have it both orally and genitally? Im so confused by this because ive never had a coldsore in my life and ive been downtown on him, gosh hundreds of times...I dont know lol, i hope someone can understand what im getting at here, because I really do want to understand!

I wouldnt wish the vagina fire hell I just went to on my worst enemy, let alone the man I love. But you woulda thunk hed have already had it by now! 

I know this sounds jumbled but its kinda just rolling outta my head here lol, so if you can provide any info or clarification id greatly appreciate it!

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Aziggy

[WilsoInAus]

I reckon we can sort out a few things here. 

Let's start with your boyfriend. He seems almost certain to have an oral HSV-1 infection. A heap of people do from their childhood, around 50% of the population. The absolute bulk of these people (and I mean 99% or so) only have the infection orally. As such, the risk of transmission is from his mouth to your lips or to your genitals. There was no other possibility of herpes transmission, such as you giving him oral sex.

For adults who are infected during sex (meaning full on kissing and oral sex) there is a chance that they may become infected in both locations, either in the one episode or in near proximity. It is believed this happens between 10 to 30% (very pessimistic) of adult HSV-1 infections but no one really knows. These people will experience outbreaks in both locations. It appears that you are only having a genital outbreak and hence it is highly probably that is the only infection site.

Note that any region of your body (there are about 30 different dermatomes meaning a skin region served by a specific nerve ganglion) that can be infected that 'band' across your body. However about 98% or so of infections are either oral or genital.

A blood test just tells you that you are carrying antibodies to the virus in your blood! And the only way that they are there is because you carry the virus - somewhere, somehow! But you will not know which location. It is reasonable to assume that HSV-1 will be oral and HSV-2 will be genital unless you have a swab that tells you otherwise.

Transmission is a chance thing, occurring 1 in a few thousand episodes. At the risk of sounding a bit insensitive, your number came up. There's little more to it than that. For some it happens after a few episodes, a few hundred, a few thousand or never! There is nothing unusual about the timing of 3 years before you have become infected. And you have just been infected, there is little doubt of that. Your 'fire hell' can only really happen at the time primary infection. Who knows what your outbreak frequency will be, for about half of people infected, they never experience anything further after a few months.

Once an infection is established, the chance of further infection is negligible. Way too low a chance to be in anyway worried about it in terms of an active sex life.