Cold sores and herpes?

Question

My wife gets cold sores and we have always kissed while she had them. I've never had one. Does that mean I'm immune to it? What are the chances of getting genital herpes if I've never got a cold sore? And when does the cold sore stop being really contagious?

Answer 1

it never really stops being contagious but there are times when its less contagious. when sores are not visible then they are less contagious. there is no immunity towards herpes if u haven't all ready got the herpes virus. who knows u could be a carrier of it. that means that u have the virus but display little to no signs or symptoms of it.

u can get oral herpes on your genitals but that's not really genital herpes. HSV1 is commonly the oral type it likes to live on the mouth or face but it can be transferred to the genitals. HSV2 is commonly known as genital herpes. one type does not turn into the other. your chances of getting that are increased if she has a visible sore, symptoms of an out break or a sore that is going away.

BTW u can reply to some ones answer by using the EDIT and clicking on adding details. but if your not going to be nice u can get reported. u can also try emailing the person if they have that option on their profile.

Answer 2

Some viruses aren't visible, but there still may be a chance you've contracted something.

Answer 3

You may or may not have the virus.  Some people have the virus but for whatever reason rarely, if ever, have an outbreak.  Oral s*x can pass on the cold sore virus to the genitals, so you need to be aware of that.  And the virus can be passed on, even when your wife does not have an outbreak.  As an added point of information, I get cold sores, but my husband did not ever get one.  And he did not ever worry about kissing when I had one.  That was probably silly, but like you, he did not seem to be susceptible to cold sores.

Many of us already have the cold sore virus dormant in our bodies, and never have a flare up of cold sores.  We contracted it as children, as it is a very common virus, and children pick it up easily as they often share food and drinks, and may be less concerned about hand washing and hygiene.   Cold sores can be transmitted even when the person does not have a cold sore, though it is less likely to happen then.  

There is no over-the-counter medication or home remedy that cures cold sores.  Only time will take care of that.  But there is a good prescription medication for cold sores.  It will make them go away much faster, and as a result of taking this medication you will have far fewer outbreaks of cold sores.

The absolute best treatment for cold sores is a prescription medication in pill form called Valtrex.  It was intended for genital herpes, but cold sores are caused by the same family of viruses, and Valtrex stops colds sores in their tracks.  None of the other treatments come close to the effectiveness of Valtrex, not the ointment Zovirax, and certainly not Abreva or anything else.  Ask your doctor about it to see if you would be a good candidate for this medication.  My doctor prescribed it for me for cold sores about five years ago and after taking it only a couple of times I hardly ever get a cold sore any more, and before Valtrex I was having several attacks a year.  On the rare occasions that I do get one now, it is gone almost immediately when I take the medication - in about a day.    In the meantime, here are a couple of informative links.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-t...

http://kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/ach...

As an added note, the best way to reply to someone's answer is to email them if they allow emails.  If they don't allow emails, you can post a comment here in the comment section for this question, but many people do not come back to check questions they have already answered.  You could check to see if they have any open questions that they have asked themselves and post a comment in the comment section of that question.  And some people do not allow any contact other than answering the question.

Answer 4

If you have kissed your wife when she had a cold sore, then you almost certainly have oral herpes.   They are VERY contagious when present.  My guess is that you already have it, and that your symptoms are sufficiently mild that you just don't know that you have it.

Also, if you already have her exact strain of HSV1 orally, then that would explain why you haven't gotten it from her genitally.  Once your body has established antibodies for a specific strain of herpes, you are much less likely to get it anywhere else on your body.  It is possible, but quite unlikely.   Almost all cases where someone has the same strain in two places occurred when a person caught herpes in both places at about the same time (and thus didn't have antibodies from the first infection when they were infected the second time.)

If you really want to know, you can get a blood test that will tell you whether you have HSV1 or HSV2 - but it won't tell you WHERE you have it.  You may have caught her oral herpes on your genitals, or on your mouth.  Without symptoms, its impossible to know WHERE you have it through just a blood test.

For lots more RELIABLE details on herpes, I strongly recommend the website below.

And I'm afraid I have to differ with Lindsay (who almost gives great answers, by the way) on this one.   If you have herpes, there are definitely times when you are contagious, and times when you are NOT contagious.   When you have symptoms, you are definitely contagious.  The tricky part is that there are also some times when you are contagious but have no symptoms.  This is called "asymptomatic shedding" and may occur 10% of the time.   The rest of the time, however, you are not contagious.  Subtle distinction, but there you go.

Answer 5

Given that you have kissed her when she has been highly infectious and not developed symptoms, and that 80% of adults do have oral herpes, there is a very high chance that you were already infected and have a dormant oral herpes infection with type 1 yourself. If so, you would produce antibodies to protect you from her infection.

I know that I caught genital herpes through receiving oral s*x from a partner with cold sores - and that was when he didn't have one.

You can find out if you do already have it through a simple blood test.

Even if you do have it, it is best to err on the side of caution - even with one hsv-1 infection, if your immune system is very low or you come into contact with large quantities of virus (as when she has an open sore) you CAN get it in a second place, though it is very rare.

The cold sore is contagious from the very first tingle to about 5 days after the sore has completely healed to leave unbroken skin. And even in between sores, virus can still be present on the mouth.

Answer 6

check out this website...it is very informative.  has all the information you need about HIV and STDS.  http://www.sexhealthguru.com/index.php?s...