Question:
Hello,

I know that it's not so healthy to obsess over how / who you got it from, but I feel like I need some peace of mind, and have gotten lots of conflicting information from my doctor(s) and from the materials I've read. So...

I am wondering if it is possible for someone to pass on HSV 1 from their mouth to someone's genitals, and for the 'carrier' to test negative?

Here's the story: I was with one man for 4 years—(I know what you're thinking, but we lived together in a secluded environment and he truly had no opportunity to cheat)—and after 4 years I got an outbreak. I was sure it was an initial outbreak because of these points:
-the night before, we had oral sex, and i felt his facial hair kind of rubbing / abrasing me in a particular spot
-he often gets huge, stress-induced cold sores inside his mouth, and i later learned that he happened to have one at that time
-i had a fever and a lot of pain 1 or 2 days later (and not once since then—that was over 2 yrs ago, and I'm not on any suppressive meds)
-a culture of my sore came back positive for HSV 1

The thing is, it makes so much sense that he would have passed it to me, except for one thing: he tested negative, twice (type-specific blood test and, he says, a culture). Just to clarify, I am no longer with this man (for totally unrelated reasons), so any possible cheating or lying about the test is not really the issue, although I have definitely considered those.

Does this make any sense to anyone, or can you point me toward some information that might help me feel better about the situation?

Answer:
If he gets cold sores, he has HSV. I don't know how he managed to come up negative twice, but if he gets cold sores, he has HSV. Period. And that's how you got it.

Answer:
Thanks—maybe I should clarify that the cold sores are always inside his mouth. I read some information on WebMD that said that if they're inside the mouth and white, they're usually just canker sores.