[Question #12514] Herpes from Massage/Handjob
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7 months ago
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10 days ago in Mumbai, received naked body-to-body massage/handjob (no condom) from female. Rubbed her chest on mine and my penis/penis head between her breasts/on nipples. Used bare hand to provide handjob. No lesions/symptoms aside from slight irritation at tip of penis. 5 days after, felt chills and dizziness. Tested for herpes 2.5 years ago (IGG EIA) — HSV-1 positive and HSV-2 negative.
Chances I contracted HSV-2 (or any other STI)? Possible I am asymptomatic?
When should I test?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
7 months ago
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I don't believe the things you did put you at risk for HSV 2 and I would not recommend testing, due to the high rate of false positives on the routinely available tests. Good job for doing very low risk activities with this woman.
Terri
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7 months ago
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Thank you Terri. I’ve read that body to body contact even in the absence of intercourse can still spread herpes. Are these transmission events rare? What percentage of nude body to body contact events result in transmission?
What if my penis ended up touching the outside of her vagina without me noticing?
When would symptoms typically appear if I was infected?
What percentage of HSV-2 cases are asymptomatic?
When would be an appropriate time to get tested if I wanted to? I am very concerned about infecting my partner.
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
7 months ago
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While frottage can result in transmission, it is rare indeed. Based on your previous email, I didn't perceive genital-to-genital contact, but if your penis rubbed up against her vagina, that is a small risk. Symptoms of a new herpes infection would include sores in the genital area within 2-10 days of the encounter.
Eighty six percent of those who test accurately positive for HSV 2 report not having any symptoms of HSV so being unaware of infection is very common indeed.
If you do test, I wouldn't do it any earlier than 6 weeks out from the encounter at which point the IgG test would pick up 70% of those infected with HSV 2. However, there is the risk of a false positive so be so careful and any positive should be confirmed with a better test. You could do a baseline test now to know for sure that you weren't infected prior to this event.
TErri
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7 months ago
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What level of genital contact/rubbing is typically required for herpes to transmit to a non-infected individual?
Does a concurrent HSV-1 infection decrease the chances of HSV-2 infection?
If my HSV-1 infection is asymptomatic, does that make it more likely that an HSV-2 infection would also be asymptomatic? Or does one infection of one HSV type not really affect the other?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
7 months ago
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I guess I can't answer what level of contact is required - it is too difficult to know if one person was shedding virus, if there was broken skin, the duration of the contact, etc etc. I'm not going to attempt to answer that one. Having HSV 1 does not reduce the risk of acquiring HSV 2 but it can make the acquisition subclinical, without symptoms.
Terri
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