Question:
I'm male and I get herpes outbreaks on the scrotum every 2 or 3 months.

I would like to know if herpes can be transmitted to a woman in my urine, semen or saliva. Or is it just transmitted through the skin and/or liquid in blisters?

thanks

Answer:
yes it can be carried all of those ways!! Some people who have been misinformed, even by some doctors who do not fully undertand or do not have a wide knowledge of it, or people who are just confused will say that is not true but it is. My doctor told me that and ive also found the info on several sites...here are some:

found on a website:
"To infect people, the herpes simplex viruses (both 1 and 2) must access the body through broken skin or a mucous membrane such as inside the mouth or on the genital area. Each virus can be carried in bodily fluids (such saliva, semen, fluid in the female genital tract) or in fluid from herpes sores. The risk for infection is highest with direct contact of blisters or sores during an outbreak."

Also, on another website (http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/inf...al/herpes.html)

it says "Herpes simplex virus type 2 can be passed in the urine or genital discharge of an infected person."

In both cases, people who are infected can have no symptoms of an active infection, and can unknowingly spread the infection to another person.

Answer:
So my genital herpes could in theory be passed on to someone if I shared a glass of water or cigarette with them? Or if they came into a drop of my pee on a toilet seat?

Answer:
should have written "....came into contact with a drop...." (can't wait till I can edit my own posts) :)

Answer:
no, It is not in your saliva unless you have HSV1 or HSV2 orally as far as I know....almost 100% sure of that. Pee....yes if you have GENITAL herpes of either type....but outside the body the virus does not live for very long but yes it can be in your pee. The post I sent you and also put on here under another category is refering to having HSV (of either type) in the genital region, which is when it will be found in your body fluids (that come from down below). The one referring to it being present in saliva is explaining it if you have HSV 1 or 2 in your mouth....not down below. Hope that helps.....if you have it orally then in saliva yes....if not orally then it wont be in your saliva. Just as if you ONLY have it orally it will no be in your pee or semen as far as I know. hope that helps a little bit.

Answer:
Yes that all makes sense. I'm not surprised it's in pee because it's so strongly foul smelling and dark at the beginning of an outbreak.

And glad that it's not in saliva if I don't have it orally.

Now I know it's in my semen then I'll have to be careful of that too. i.e Non-contact sexual practices will have to be even non-contact where semen is concerned, not just taking care to avoid skin on skin.

Do you have any idea of how long the virus might live outside the bodY? For example on a towel?

Answer:
outside the body on a towel not more than a few hours...my doc told me to be careful of that....not reuse a towel, not dry genital area with towels and if you do make sure that its the last part you dry off so you don't spread virus around to other parts of body...then wash it. Also, no sharing towels and stuff like that. Some people dont think its possible but it was one of the first things my doc. told me to be careful of because she has seen it happen before, though not often, but with some of her patients over the years and she wants people to know it is not overly common but definitely possible to spread that way.

Answer:
So the same would apply to taps, toilet flushes etc.? A few hours? I don't share towels ever but I must admit I don't go around cleaning taps etc. yet after I've used them.

Answer:
some will say it is less but it is possible to live up to a few hours....most people think it is dead in an hour...but I like to use caution....you can never be too careful with this crap.