Question on Herpes... risks of catching?!
Question: Question on Herpes... risks of catching.?
I have a girl I really like, however she has Herpes.
She is on the medication, she doesn't have an outbreak.
Assuming I use a condom, what kind of risk am I looking at if we have sex.?
What concerns me is her outbreaks have been on the outside... so even if I wear a condom, won't I basically still risk rubbing exposed skin where she's had outbreaks.?
On a % scale, what kind of risk am I facing.?
I hate treating her like a pariah, but the fact is I like her alot... but not so much I want Herpes.Health Question & Answer
She is on the medication, she doesn't have an outbreak.
Assuming I use a condom, what kind of risk am I looking at if we have sex.?
What concerns me is her outbreaks have been on the outside... so even if I wear a condom, won't I basically still risk rubbing exposed skin where she's had outbreaks.?
On a % scale, what kind of risk am I facing.?
I hate treating her like a pariah, but the fact is I like her alot... but not so much I want Herpes.Health Question & Answer
Answers:
I can't give you a risk per single event.
You are right that condoms provide little protection for the man. The most often quoted figure for the risk-reduction condoms offer is 40%, but that takes into account that condoms offer much more protection to a woman with an infected male partner than to a man with an infected female partner. I have seen some herpes specialists estimate that condoms provide as little as 0-20% protection against herpes for a man with an infected female partner. I have certainly come across quite a few men who say they caught herpes while using a condom.
While condoms don't always cover the potential sites of viral shedding, they offer some useful protection against the virus by protecting or covering the mucous membranes that are the most likely sites of transmission.
One antiviral medication for herpes, valacyclovir (Valtrex?), has been shown to reduce the risk of herpes transmission. When a person with a history of recurrent genital herpes takes 500 mg of valacyclovir daily, it can reduce the risk of transmission to a partner who does not have the virus by 50%.
In people who get recurrences, asymptomatic shedding occurs on average for 2 per cent of the time for people with type 2 infection and 0.7per cent of the time for those with type 1.
The fewer recurrences a person has, the less chance there is of asymptomatic shedding. Asymptomatic shedding tends to diminish over the years. It is more likely to be happening in the first year and much less probable after that.
The virus is most often transmitted during the first four months of a new relationship; however partners are often together for years without the virus passing from one to the other.
I have been trying to find reports for you, and the following are extracts from reports that have appeared in the British Medical Journal:
"Mertz et al showed that the mean transmission rate was 9.7% a year, with higher rates when the exposed partner was female or was previously uninfected with herpes simplex virus of either type... seventy per cent of these transmissions occurred as a result of sexual contact during periods of presumed subclinical viral shedding."
"Subclinical shedding
You are right that condoms provide little protection for the man. The most often quoted figure for the risk-reduction condoms offer is 40%, but that takes into account that condoms offer much more protection to a woman with an infected male partner than to a man with an infected female partner. I have seen some herpes specialists estimate that condoms provide as little as 0-20% protection against herpes for a man with an infected female partner. I have certainly come across quite a few men who say they caught herpes while using a condom.
While condoms don't always cover the potential sites of viral shedding, they offer some useful protection against the virus by protecting or covering the mucous membranes that are the most likely sites of transmission.
One antiviral medication for herpes, valacyclovir (Valtrex?), has been shown to reduce the risk of herpes transmission. When a person with a history of recurrent genital herpes takes 500 mg of valacyclovir daily, it can reduce the risk of transmission to a partner who does not have the virus by 50%.
In people who get recurrences, asymptomatic shedding occurs on average for 2 per cent of the time for people with type 2 infection and 0.7per cent of the time for those with type 1.
The fewer recurrences a person has, the less chance there is of asymptomatic shedding. Asymptomatic shedding tends to diminish over the years. It is more likely to be happening in the first year and much less probable after that.
The virus is most often transmitted during the first four months of a new relationship; however partners are often together for years without the virus passing from one to the other.
I have been trying to find reports for you, and the following are extracts from reports that have appeared in the British Medical Journal:
"Mertz et al showed that the mean transmission rate was 9.7% a year, with higher rates when the exposed partner was female or was previously uninfected with herpes simplex virus of either type... seventy per cent of these transmissions occurred as a result of sexual contact during periods of presumed subclinical viral shedding."
"Subclinical shedding
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