Answer:

It is possible for a couple who have never had another sexual partner to have genital herpes, if they give oral sex and spread the virus from mouth to genitals. It would be important for you to know the type of herpes that you have (HSV I vs. II) to find out if this might be the case for you. Cultures can be typed, or you can have one of the new type-specific blood tests done to look for evidence of infection with HSV I and/or HSV II.

Answer:

HSV I normally infects the area of the lips, nose, and chin. All cold sores and fever blisters are caused by herpes simplex virus, overwhelmingly by HSV I. Canker sores inside the mouth are not generally caused by herpes. HSV I orally recurs, on average, three times per year. HSV I can also cause genital infection, and is most often transmitted through oral sex (someone with cold sore virus on their lips giving oral sex to someone else).

HSV I now causes about a third of new cases of genital herpes in the U.S. A person need not have a cold sore present to infect someone else -- HSV I can be given off from the mouth even when no obvious outbreak is there. However, HSV I genitally recurs about once every other year, while HSV II genitally recurs about 5 times per year, on average. It is not possible to tell by looking at an outbreak if it is HSV I or II. HSV I causes only about 5% of genital recurrences, overall, with HSV II causing 95% of genital herpes recurrences. HSV I genitally is shed asymptomatically far less than HSV II.

HSV II causes two-thirds of all new genital herpes cases and 95% of recurrences of genital herpes. It is very rarely an oral infection, and when it does infect the oral area, it recurs only .01 times, on average, per year.

Answer:

Yes, there are blood tests that can tell you if you have either HSV I or II infection without having any symptoms. The three tests that have FDA approval are the HerpeSelect IgG EIA for HSV I and II, the HerpeSelect Immunoblot IgG for HSV I and II, and the POCkit test for HSV II. The Western blot, which is considered the gold standard by which all other tests are measured, is done at the University of Washington in the U.S. and Viridae in Canada.

Answer:

One way to get the new HerpeSelect test is to go to the web site healthcheckusa.com and order the IgG herpes simplex antibody test for HSV I and HSV II yourself. You need not have a healthcare provider help you with this process. The cost should be about $70 plus a small shipping and handling fee. The blood can be drawn in a laboratory in your own town. They also offer an IgM version of this test, but there are no IgM serologies that accurately distinguish between HSV I and II, and I would recommend avoiding the IgM test.

Answer:

I would recommend a few web sites:

• www.webmd.com
• www.ashastd.org has info not only about herpes but other STDs as well
• www.westoverheights.com has a small book about herpes that you can download without charge
• www.viridae.com has very good info about herpes as well
• www.gotstd.com is a place to meet others with herpes
• www.herpeshomepage.com has herpes info and also a link with a pharmacy for cheaper prices on antiviral medication
• www.POCkit.com lists healthcare providers in your area who do the POCkit test for HSV II

America Online has at least five herpes chats -- search their chats area for specifics.

Answer:

There are. They are called HELP groups, and the American Social Health Association sponsors them. They are present in almost all major cities. The locations of these groups can be found on the web site www.ashastd.org. They normally meet monthly, are free of charge, and can be quite useful in bouncing ideas off of others who have herpes.

Answer:

First of all, 90% of those who are infected do not know that they are and would deny having genital herpes. So the first thing I would recommend is that you be tested to find out that you definitely are not infected. One in four Americans has HSV II. If you really don't have HSV II and your partner does, then the odds go something like this:

If you are a female, and you have genital HSV II and your partner does not, and you do not use condoms with intercourse, you do not have sex during outbreaks, and you do not take daily antiviral therapy, then your odds of infecting him in a year are about 3%-4%. To think about that in a different way, if there were 100 HSV II-positive females having monogamous sex with 100 HSV II-negative males, and the conditions listed above applied to these 100 couples, then three or four of the men would get herpes in a year.

If the gender situation was reversed, but all the rest remained the same, then about nine or 10 females would get infected in that same year.