Hi All
I was answering some private messages on PERB and noticed edd’s question in the lounge.
Edd I can certainly give you some information about herpes.
I know looking for herpes information on the web can be difficult. There is so much information some good and some not so good.
The easiest time to pass herpes is when someone is having an outbreak as there is a lot of virus in the sores.
When someone is not having an outbreak it is still possible to pass herpes but the risk is lower. This happens because every now and then the herpes virus travels along the nerve to the surface of the skin. This is called asymptomatic shedding because the person does not feel any symptoms but the virus is still on the skin and can be passed to another person. If you have genital herpes this means the skin that could have the herpes virus on it would cover the area of your body that a pair of boxer shorts would cover. If you have oral herpes (cold sores) it would be the area around the mouth. The amount of days this would happen out of the year really depends on the type of herpes (type 1 or type 2) and where it is.
If someone has herpes there are three things you can do to reduce the chance of passing it to someone else.
1) Don’t have contact with the area when you are having an outbreak. This means from the time the area starts tingling to the time it is healed back to good skin. This doesn’t mean you can’t touch their body. If someone had genital herpes it is safe to touch other parts of their body e.g. hands, mouth, back etc…
2) Using a condom will reduce the risk but it is not 100% because skin to skin contact can still take place to the areas not covered by the condom.
3) Taking daily antiviral medication like Valtrex has shown to reduce the amount of outbreaks and asymptomatic shedding.
Avoiding the genital area during outbreaks, using condoms and taking daily suppressive medication will really reduce the chance of passing herpes.
To give you a rough idea of what are the chances of passing on herpes they have done studies on men who have genital herpes type 2 and their female partner who did not have herpes they found that the chance of passing herpes was about 10% per year (so if there was 10 woman in the study 1 woman would get herpes in that year). In these studies they just avoided sex during an outbreak and did not use condoms regularly or take the daily medication.
Edd I think it’s great that you’re looking for more information on herpes. I find that as someone gets more accurate information about herpes they and their partner feel much better. There is so much stigma around genital herpes that people are usually surprised that oral herpes (cold sores) and genital herpes act the same way and are basically the same thing.
Probably the best herpes resource I have found on the internet is the herpes handbook from the Westover Heights Clinic. It has great information on herpes, transmission, medication, testing and how to talk with a partner about herpes.
http://westoverheights.com/herpes_handbook/final_HH_for_2010_revision_1.pdf
We used to answer questions in the health information forum but since we opened our new website at
www.smartsexresource.com we don’t have enough time to do both. Feel free to come over to our new website you can ask public and private questions and live chat with a nurse.
You can also find out more information on our herpes page
http://smartsexresource.com/topics/herpes-simplex-virus-genital-herpes
HN
www.smartsexresource.com