Question:
my spouse now states after 15 years of being together, That he now has contacted simplex 1 from me in the genital area, I was married prior to him for 12 years 1st husband never broke out, and it has taken 15 years for my husband to break out? I had contacted simplex 1 in my early teens from being in the sun to much, Beach, River (so said doc.) I have always known when a break out was comming and was very careful. No one that I would kiss or have sex ever so any symtoms or out breaks, I also have 4 children non of which ever contracted simplex from me. So what do you think???? PS he has cheated once that I know of, I am really unsure of the way I feel.

Answer:
If you have herpes simplex 1, it is possible that you gave it to your husband. Your doctor may have meant to tell you that your outbreaks were provoked by the sun, not that the sun gave you herpes simplex. You get herpes simplex (fever blisters, cold sores) from someone else, not from the sun. Maybe somebody kissed you, a relative, in innocence, and you caught it as a kid. It stays in your system, kind of like malaria, sort of sleeping in your nerves, and certain things make it get active, like too much sun, fatigue, fever, sicknesses. Your kids might have it too, just never showing symptoms. It's very common.

Every now and then a person with herpex simplex 1 can be contagious even when there is no outbreak. Your husband may have just got unlucky on one of those unlucky days. Chances are he'll never have another outbreak again. This is usually the case with getting HSV1 rom oral sex, if it really is hsv1, and not hsv2.

There are very specific tests, such as the HerpesSelect IgG, to see if he has one or the other or both. If you have doubts, both of you should take the test. If he has hsv2 and you don't, then maybe you're right and he did cheat. On the other hand, maybe he didn't. Many people have it for years, symptomless and dormant, before their first outbreak.

Concentrate more on your relationship, and not on lab tests in this case. Do you love and trust eachother? Are you supporting eachother or accusing eachother? These are the questions to ask once your diagnoses are both confirmed.