Question:
As I'm doing more research I have a few questions.

HSV is spread through skin-on-skin contact, not bodily fluids. Great, awesome. So if two people with HSV-2 have sex with eachother, is there the chance that the contact will spread where the fever blisters pop up? For example if I have a partner, we have sex, and some portion of him rubs against MY skin does that mean he will have OB's in that particular spot? Or is all of this nulled out by the fact you already have it in your bloodstream?

Answer:
You can catch a new strain of hsv2. They didn't used to think that happened much but new research shows that indeed it happens - how often is still unknown. It is thought that you do have some protection since your body makes HSV2 antibodies but no one knows how often that will really stop a new infection. For most people, catching a new strain of HSV2 won't change much about their outbreaks, but in some cases it could change the outbreak pattern and even make it worse. What ends up happening is the 2 strains end up combining, so you get a mix of the original herp and the new herp, and some forms are herp are more or less virulent than others. With H the only thing that seems to be consistently true is that you can't predict anything.

The blisters can pop up anywhere in the "boxer short" region, so subsequent outbreaks may have blisters in different locations even if you don't catch a new strain of HSV2, so no guarantees there either.

Answer:
OK, one more question. The person I caught H from has outbreaks and after a little over a month of having it... I don't. He's trying to claim that he read something on the internet that says I would have outbreaks if he had them. I was tested prior to us dating, months after the last person I had sex with. Is he full of BS because he's trying to prevent himself from feeling guilty? I mean I had blood tests, swabs for it, everything prior to us having sex.

Answer:
how many outbreaks you get is really very individual. H acts differently in everyone.

the person i caught H from NEVER gets an OB... NEVER shows any symptoms ever, never knew he had it till I caught it, and I have constant OBs. We have the same H and it's very different in how it treats us. I guess my partner has an iron constitution and my immune system is a little too wimpy... Whatever the reasons, H is very unpredictable.

Answer:
OK, the person I caught mine from has external outbreaks. According to my doctor the way they know I have 2 for absolute sure is from an internal smeary-thing that's not a pap but I don't know the name for.

So... all my outbreaks are internal but it's the same strain?

Answer:
where you get outbreaks seems to be pretty individual. the same "strain" can cause external outbreaks in one person and internal outbreaks in another. Also, for some, the location of the outbreaks can change from time to time...

Answer:
When you say "strains" are you talking obout hsv 1 and 2 as the strains? We both have it orally and genitally is that what you mean by different strains?

Answer:
The strain thing is really confusing...

There are actually different strains of HSV1... and there are different strains of HSV2... and HSV1 and HSV2 are different, but very closely related viruses...

What that means (hopefully in plain English), is that all HSV1 = HSV1, but there can be subtle changes in DNA sequence between the HSV1 isolated from one person compared to the HSV1 isolated from another person. The same applies with HSV2... it's all HSV2, but again, there can be subtle DNA changes when the virus is isolated and analyzed from different people. In theory different strains can be more or less virulent, but the immune response seems to play an even bigger role in how the infection plays out from person to person.

It's fairly safe to assume that you pretty much are infected with the same strain - meaning essentially the same DNA sequence - of HSV as the person you caught it from.

Answer:
Now I have lots of information, just in case I decide to ever have sex again. :rolleyes: