A question about "Cold sores" (oral herpes)

[Scottyboi]

A guy I was seeing last night divulged that he has 'oral herpes', also know to many as 'cold sores'.

Apparently he's had it for so long that he rarely experiences a break out, maybe once every year.

He claimed that as long as he's not symptomatic that I won't catch it but to be honest I didn't believe him because I've heard you can catch Genital Herpes from someone who isn't displaying symptoms.

So that's my question; if a guy has oral herpes but is not displaying any symptoms (any inflammation, etc) is it possible for me to catch the oral form?

I've also been told that Oral Herpes can give someone Genital Herpes, is this true and could he also give genital herpes to me if he wasn't displaying any signs/symptoms of Oral herpes?

thank you

 

[evanrick]

http://www.herpes.com/genitalinfo.shtml

 

[KaraBulut]

So that's my question; if a guy has oral herpes but is not displaying any symptoms (any inflammation, etc) is it possible for me to catch the oral form?

Chances are that you already have HSV-1. You've had it since childhood and you contracted it from a family member or close friend. Somewhere between 60-90% of humans are HSV-1 carriers.

Considering your friend's recurring breakouts, he might want to consider an antiviral like Zovirax.

I've also been told that Oral Herpes can give someone Genital Herpes, is this true and could he also give genital herpes to me if he wasn't displaying any signs/symptoms of Oral herpes?

It's possible but unusual. HSV-1 causes cold sores. HSV-2 causes genital herpes. They are distinct strains of the same virus. Occasionally, HSV-1 can affect the genitals and occasionally HSV-2 can affect the mouth- however these are the exceptions. So, unless your friend has HSV-2, you're not likely to break out in herpes lesions on your genitals.

 

[asianstudlover]

Dont be alarmed. That was honest of him to say. Like said above nearly everyone has what he has including you!. but its not contageous unless he has a breakout so just look at his mouth and lips very closely (takes 30 seconds) If he has one it is Very contageous, no kissing, or sex of any kind.

BUT REMEMBER he only has HSV1 oral (common) can be transfer to the genital region if he blows you. This is not 'genital type herpes" (HSV2), though it will look similar. .

 

[pasacon]

It's possible but unusual. HSV-1 causes cold sores. HSV-2 causes genital herpes. They are distinct strains of the same virus. Occasionally, HSV-1 can affect the genitals and occasionally HSV-2 can affect the mouth- however these are the exceptions. So, unless your friend has HSV-2, you're not likely to break out in herpes lesions on your genitals.

If he has an active oral outbreak and he performs oral the chances are pretty decent that it could be spread. HSV-1 to genitals and HSV-2 to mouth isn't any less likely to be spread, but both strains have their preferred environment. Just because you never have an initial outbreak doesn't mean you don't have it. Some people catch it and don't even exhibit symptoms.

Based on what I've read in the past, HSV-2 tends to act less severely as a non genital infection, and HSV-1 tends to act less severely as a non oral infection. They also tend to happen less often. The infection can also be spread to other parts of the body besides the genitals or mouth in both strains. Exposure to the virus requires contact with the sight of infection whether an outbreak is present or not and also saliva can contain the virus. Semen and blood do not carry the virus.

As for infection during dormancy. Studies in the past decade have revealed that even when there is no active infection, herpes sufferers can periodically "shed" the virus. It sheds from the skin at the site of a previous infection and nowhere else. So if you've had a cold sore somewhere on your body, the virus can suddenly start shedding out and exist on the skin in intervals throughout the year for short periods of time. Chance of becoming infected by someone who is shedding is much less likely compared to contact with a live outbreak, but the risk is still there.

Taking an anti viral regularly can greatly reduce the frequency and duration of viral shedding between outbreaks. Anti virals work by attaching to a viruses protein receptors making it unable to dock with cells in order to infect it therefore reducing it's ability to replicate.

 

[Scottyboi]

Thanks for the answers

I'm getting an STD test this monday, if I do have 'cold sores' would this show up on the STD test?

Cuz if I have it well then i guess i have it and who cares, but I don't know whether it'd show up on the test or not

 

[KaraBulut]

As for infection during dormancy. Studies in the past decade have revealed that even when there is no active infection, herpes sufferers can periodically "shed" the virus. It sheds from the skin at the site of a previous infection and nowhere else. So if you've had a cold sore somewhere on your body, the virus can suddenly start shedding out and exist on the skin in intervals throughout the year for short periods of time. Chance of becoming infected by someone who is shedding is much less likely compared to contact with a live outbreak, but the risk is still there.

Oddly enough, HSV-1 doesn't seem to asymptomatically shed in most people. HSV-2 is known to shed without any visible lesions which becomes an issue for women who can infect their partners during sex, yet be unaware that they have the virus.

HSV-2 is quite common and I've seen some studies of college age students that say that about 1 in 6 have positive antibody titers to HSV-2 yet are asymptomatic.

HSV-1 is amazingly understudied, so we don't know as much about it as one would expect. Most of the time, it's diagnosed based upon physical examination and samples aren't sent for testing, so we assume that lesions everywhere on the body except the genitals are HSV-1... but ultimately we don't know. And we don't know why sometimes it manifests as cold sores in some people but manifests as herpes gladitorium in others. And we don't know why a few people end up with severe complications like HSV encephalitis.

What we do know is that most people have been exposed to HSV-1 by the time they become sexually active (and therefore have immunity to HSV-1), HSV-1 is less likely to shed and less likely to have frequent recurrences on the genitalia (compared to HSV-2 which does tend to recur several times a year). Most practitioners don't worry as much about HSV-1 genital infection because of these factors. There may be studies in the future that change that but- given the prevalence of HSV-1 and the prevalence of oral sex, if it were a common occurence, we would expect to see more cases of HSV-1 genital infection.