Some background information: I am female and am negative for HSV1 and 2. Negative status confirmed by Western Blot through UW. 

I will describe the scenarios that worry me about transmission of HSV1 and post my question under them.

First scenario: I went to give my 5 year old nephew a kiss on the forehead goodbye. When I bent down to kiss him, he lifted up and I ended up kissing his eye and felt fluid from his eye on my upper lip. I don’t know if he has HSV1. He had a sore under his nose about a month ago, but my sister said that he had a runny nose and kept rubbing and wiping his nose causing irritation.

My question: If my nephew has HSV1, could I have been infected from shedding virus from his eye? For what it’s worth this happened longer than 10 days ago and I never developed symptoms orally. 

Second scenario: I am staying with family tonight and I accidentally used my family members razor thinking it was mine. This family member uses the razor to shave her legs and public area. I shaved my legs, pubic area, and armpits with the razor using dove soap. This family member has complained of vulvar irritation from having to wipe so much after using to bathroom due to overactive bladder. I asked this family member when the razor was last used and she said she had used it the previous day around noon; I used the razor around 7-8 pm the next day. I do not know if this family member is positive for HSV1 or 2. 

My question: Is there any risk of transmission for HSV1 or 2? Would the virus have survived that long on the razor, from noon the previous day until 7-8 pm the next day? Would the dove soap lathered on my skin aid in killing any virus? 

Thank you for any insight you can offer. 

The second situation would appear to be more concerning but it really isn't.  The herpes virus is surrounded by a lipid layer and the function of soap is to destroy lipids so even if virus was present on the razor days later (which I'm quite sure it wasn't) the soap you used for shaving would have destroyed the virus.

If you did a Western blot to determine your HSV status, and these two episodes cause you worry, this suggests that you have quite a focus on HSV.  It is likely no where near as easy to transmit as you might be thinking.  

Terri

I really only have one more question about the razor situation.

I know that HSV doesn’t live long outside of the body, so it would be safe to assume that IF there were any virus in the razor, that it would have died/been rendered non infectious after an hour or more? And I’m assuming this applies for other inanimate objects as well? 

Terri

Also, I get concerned that maybe the soap wouldn’t have been lathered enough, or maybe I had small areas of skin that there was no soap. Should that be any worry or am I just splitting hairs over this one? 

I really want to try to put this out of my mind because I am working addressing these anxieties. I’m not really concerned about the scenario with my nephew anymore, just some lingering fear about the razor situation. 

If you were in this situation, having the knowledge that you do. Would you move on and assume you did not contract HSV from the razor? 

Yes, you are splitting hairs here.  If it were me, I wouldn't give it a single further thought - long time between use, likely soap with both parties, you don't need to worry

Terri