How likely is it to contract genital herpes from receiving oral sex?

by thecameo

How likely is it to contract genital herpes from receiving oral sex?

Well there's nothing to really do other than to stop doing oral tell u get rid of the cold sores and then u can go at it again!It is very likely that it was transmitted. The most effective thing you can do is see your doctor asap, get antiviral drugs if he thinks they are indicated and hope for the best. Antivirals very early on can decrease your chances of ever having an outbreak even if you did contract it.If someone has a cold sore and performs oral sex, especially if the cold sore is just beginning (it's usually not infective at the very end of the life of a lesion) then the person is extremely likely to contract herpes IF....

Let's back up a bit now... Almost all of us have antibodies to HSV2 (the "oral" form) from having contracted it as babies. Therefore many people if the "performer" (the person with the cold sore) had HSV2 and you had HSV2, then you are NOT likely to get it, simply because you have it. (Though you may not develop active visible cold sores).

However the concept of HSV2 being "oral" and HSV1 being genital no longer holds. Either can be found orally sited OR genitally sited. Therefore if the person has an orally sited HSV1, then you are likely to become infected genitally since this is the site where you are first exposed to the virus.

Yes, it is complex, and it gets worse because a person can have HSV1 or HSV2 genitally sited or orally sited, and never have a visible lesion, and still be highly infective.

There are blood tests, but they are not widely available and the are expensive.

Let's put this all together: If you have been infected you will probably know within 14 days. If you do not develop symptoms then either you have it already, or you did not become infected, or you became infected and are infective but show no smyptoms.

Though you might get a Medical Practitioner to give you an anti-retro viral med at this time, it is likely to be Acyclovir and it will not cure Herpes, it will merely slow it down. So most likely you will have to wait and see if you develop symptoms. If you do, the symptoms could be 1) not even visible; 2) minor or 3) painful and prolonged. In the case of #3 Acyclovir may help with the severity and duration of outbreaks.

I'm sorry I couldn't make it simpler--I tried. Herpes scares the daylights out of about a million people every year. Sad, but true and there are no easy answers.

The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Genital Herpes: A Revised and Updated Directory for the Internet Age

herpes genital - click on the image below for more information.



This sourcebook has been created for patients who have decided to make education and Internet-based research an integral part of the treatment process. Although it gives information useful to doctors, caregivers and other health professionals, it also tells patients where and how to look for information covering virtually all topics related to genital herpes, from the essentials to the most advanced areas of research. The title of this book includes the word official. This reflects the fact that

The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Genital Herpes: A Revised and Updated Directory for the Internet Age

Click on the button for more herpes genital information and reviews.

---

Orignal From: How likely is it to contract genital herpes from receiving oral sex?