Question:
Well, I'll try to make this as brief as possible.

I went to the Dr. about a month ago because I had what I thought was some sort of plant poisoning on my thigh (ex. poison ivy)- but had swollen lymph glands in my groin and the rash turned a purple-ish color.

Anyway, the Doc took one look and said, "that's herpes." So we did a blood specific test to differentiate between the type and rule out other possibilities.

The test came back as being positive for type 1- (oral herpes). However this is the only time I have ever had an outbreak and it is only on my upper thigh- I have never had a cold sore. The doc said I could have possibly gotten it from the gym (I explained that this was the only time I wore any shorts recently while around other people).

The twist:

So my husband has been gone for about 1 1/2 months and I have not been around anyone else but my children. I suppose looking at the calendar - (assuming the other possibility that he is the one that gave it to me) he could have given it to me prior to him leaving and the symptoms didn't show for about 2 weeks later.

I look at this possibility because I know that he had a "friend" that he had a "relationship" with (a female) that he said had herpes (type unknown). Not exactly sure what the relationship was - he said nothing ever happened but I have always felt otherwise but cannot prove it.

My questions:::::

I have read that type 1 and 2 can be transmitted to the opposite places of preference. So excuse me for being vulgar here but lets say he had sex with her or she gave him oral or vice versa or even just kissed her - I am assuming it could have been transmitted to me - but why on my leg????????

If this is my first KNOWN outbreak - is it most likely that I have been recently exposed to the virus?

Considering the location - if I had some sort of viral shedding without symptoms I could spread the virus to someone else???? Does this mean I should never wear shorts again???????? That is a tough one considering I am athletic.

I have two boys and am scared to death that I am going to pass this on to them somehow and end up ruining their lives. I'm not really sure what to do.

Is it possible to have viral shedding on the mouth or lips with out symptoms - should I never kiss my babies again?????

My husband hasn't been tested but when he does come home I don't want to even touch him until he has been tested. Are there any accurate over the counter tests that can quickly identify positively if he has it- and whether it is type 1 or 2. And if so, which one is most reliable????

Well, I think that about raps it up- I would appreciate any helpful & educated input because I truly am very confused. Thank you.

Answer:
I'm so sorry you are going through this. A lot of folks here have kids, so hopefully they will address you concerns regarding the kiddos.

As far as you know, you do not have oral herpes. You have HSV1 on your leg, full stop. Oral herpes means that you have some type of herpes in or around your mouth, which you don't have any evidence of right now.

The frustrating thing about herpes, for me, is that you don't know where you are shedding unless you have an outbreak. You could be shedding from your mouth...but you also could be shedding from anywhere else on your body without symptoms. Anyone in the world is in the same situation of potentially shedding without symptoms from their mouth or anywhere else.

Because there is no test available to detect shedding, I personally have decided that unless I have seen or felt symptoms at some point in a certain area of my body, I am going to assume I am not shedding there. If I have an outbreak, I'll swab it to and assume from that point on that that area is potentially shedding at any given time.

Hang in there. There is a lot of good information here, and great support.

Answer:
You stated As far as you know, you do not have oral herpes. You have HSV1 on your leg, full stop. Oral herpes means that you have some type of herpes in or around your mouth, which you don't have any evidence of right now. If it's not oral and it's not genital what the hell is it????? I was +for HSV1 and negative - for HSV2.

I'm really confused.

Answer:
I have kids, but not a whole lot of experience with HSV other than the knowledge i've gained here, but let me see if i can give you some simple answers to help you start out:

I have read that type 1 and 2 can be transmitted to the opposite places of preference. So excuse me for being vulgar here but lets say he had sex with her or she gave him oral or vice versa or even just kissed her - I am assuming it could have been transmitted to me - but why on my leg???????? Yes, he could have given it to you. It's possible that just kissing this girl gave him oral herpes, and he spread it to you without knowing he had it. In that case, the best possible scenario for the transmission is that he kissed your inner thigh. But if he's never had an outbreak, it would be hard to determine WHERE he has HSV, and if he has it somewhere like his hands (we call that Whitlow), he could have passed it to your thigh by touching. It's sort of a crap shoot. As for why it chose that particular spot on you, the virus usually enters the skin of non-membranes through a cut or some break in the skin. If you had a cut there, he had HSV on his fingers and he touched your cut, it's possible he transmitted it to you that way.

If this is my first KNOWN outbreak - is it most likely that I have been recently exposed to the virus? Yes, it is MOST LIKELY that you were recently exposed, but that's not 100% accurate for everyone. Sometimes you can have it for years and not know it, and sometimes you can have it your whole life and never experience an outbreak. The reaction people seem to experience to the virus differs greatly.

Considering the location - if I had some sort of viral shedding without symptoms I could spread the virus to someone else???? Does this mean I should never wear shorts again???????? That is a tough one considering I am athletic. I really can't help you there. I'm not entirely sure about that one myself. I know there are some people on the board who have HSV in places other than their membranes, so hopefully they can have a go at that one.

I have two boys and am scared to death that I am going to pass this on to them somehow and end up ruining their lives. I'm not really sure what to do. Is it possible to have viral shedding on the mouth or lips with out symptoms - should I never kiss my babies again????? Again, the location of your outbreak makes that one hard. If you've never had an outbreak on your mouth, it's fairly safe to assume you do NOT have oral herpes. Again, not 100%, but fairly safe. I wouldn't recommend that you never kiss your kids again -- i have genital herpes, and i still kiss my daughter, even though i could easily have it in my mouth. I dont think freaking out over the possibility you have it somewhere else is going to do you or your kids any good. Considering that (by some estimates) 70% of the population have oral herpes, even though passing it to your child would be horrible, trying to help them understand why mommy doesn't want to touch them anymore doesn't seem to outweigh the benefit. Then again, this is a personal decision only you can make.

My husband hasn't been tested but when he does come home I don't want to even touch him until he has been tested. Are there any accurate over the counter tests that can quickly identify positively if he has it- and whether it is type 1 or 2. And if so, which one is most reliable???? I've never heard of one mentioned here, or anywhere else.

If it's not oral and it's not genital what the hell is it????? Unfortunately, herpes doesn't have to be located in either your genital area or your mouth, those are just the places it prefers.

Keep looking around, keep reading, and try your best to inform yourself. Ask your doctor, ask here, read up as much as you can, and try to come to terms with what you're going through. Keep in mind no one has all the answers, and HSV is a very complex, confusing virus with no set rules.

I hope some of this helps. I know how awful it is to live in fear of passing it to your kid -- I just spent a night crying my eyes out cause my daughter has a chapped lip! Hang in there!

Answer:
confusednangry,

There are generalized understandings about hsv and then there are the exceptions.

An obvious exception to the general understandings about hsv would be cases of Herpes Whitlow. The most common way for contracting Whitlow is during contact sports such as wrestling or basketball. One does not need to be kissing someone or having sexual contact but the virus is transmitted to skin in areas outside of the mouth or genitals which can include elbows, knees, thighs, and hands among other body parts.

I know there is a lot of speculation on this forum for how the herpes simplex virus sheds and although the possibility exists for spreading it asymptomatically the odds are undoubtedly greatly reduced when the virus is handicapped by not being in constant contact with mucous membranes which are in the "preferred viral locations". The times it would be most contagious is when there are active water blisters visible on the skin.

Does this ease your mind at all?

Answer:
also, please know that "genital" herpes refers to anywhere in the boxer short region.......that is where genital herpes virus can be shedding or outbreaks can occur because of the many nerve pathways that are all interconnected in that region. You may have an outbreak on your thigh and then later in life get one on your vagina, or buttocks.....it is a tricky virus. Also, i know your husband said he had some sort of relationship with someone who had herpes but you dont know what type and if they had type 2 and you got diagnosed with type 1 then it is impossible for you to have gotten herpes from anything to do with her. Their is also a chance your husband has had hsv type 1 since childhood and never knew coldsores were oral herpes......perhaps he never even had a coldsore but has had this since childhood, there are a million possibilities..........

one possibility you should be aware of also is that you could very well have been carrying hsv1 around (orally without symptoms) for years, as it is extrememely prevalent(by thinking of all the people you have kissed in you life, shared a drink with, a chapstick, etc...and the possibility you contracted it at some point) could very well explain your positive blood result for hsv1.....60-70% of the US population will test positive for type 1 if given blood tests and half of them will have no clue, nor ever had a coldsore. So if that happens to be the case, then you might very well also have type 2 and the antibodies just couldnt be detected yet at the time of your test.....there are so many possibilities so i would retest in 6 weeks or more for both types ...it couldnt hurt to just be sure.

But it sounds like you have hsv1 below and got it from an oral infection ....although if your husband has genital hsv1 and doesnt know, you could have gotten it that way from sex. so many possibilities but have your husband get tested and take it from there. It is hard to grasp and understand but this board is very helpful.

Answer:
Thank you for your reply. It really stinks that I contracted it and however I did I suppose it really doesn't matter at this point as there is nothing I can do about it. I could care less if I am ever intimate again- but if I passed it on to my children - I don't know how I would deal with that- they are everything to me- my whole world. I am suppose to protect them not hurt them and make their lives difficult. It is all really hard to digest & makes me want to crawl under a rock. It's nice to chat with people in the same boat so thanks again.

Answer:
Thanks for all your replies.

I did want to mention that I was tested back in Dec 06 after I suspected something was going on the previous summer with my husband and his "friend." I was negative for herpes at that time.

That would mean I didn't contract it as a child correct? Because I would have the antibodies in my blood - is that right?

Answer:
I recently had a terrible UTI ( which is what Ill call it now ) pissing razor blades for almost 2 weeks. First came the fever and the skin on my back was very sensitive. Though no sores anywhere to be found. Dr was unsure if it was indeed herpes and eventually did a blood test which came back negative. He however requested I take another one in about 4 weeks. As for medications I tried as follows with little effect .. levaquin then zyphromax finishing off with valtrex .... just in case .... Id say the experience lasted 2-2.5 weeks but seemed like months. I have been in a committed relationship for a year and am pretty sure she was true to me. My question is could this have been something besides herpes or perhaps the blisters were in the inside lining of my penis that couldnt be seen
Someone please give me some feedback