I have been in a monogamous marriage for 28 years and my husband has never had any signs of HSV 1 or 2.  So, I evidently came into this relationship with HSV 2 unknowingly.  

Not long after that lesion I had shingles and have been on 1 gram of Valtrex daily since.  (to suppress both)

Questions: If I'm shedding this virus HSV 2,  when I don't have a lesion, where would i be shedding it from? Buttock (original site) or in my genital area? Or both? 

Since my husband has never had a lesion what is the likelihood of my transmitting this to a new partner?   Since my husband and I have had unprotected sex for all of these years and he is not affected, even though I wasn't on Valtrex for the vast majority of those years, do I assume that I just don't do much shedding?   My biggest concern is transmission to a new parter since I may be over my question limit in one post. Thanks

I think a lot of people have confusion about buttocks lesions.  Buttocks herpes IS genital herpes - the virus has simply traveled along a slightly different nerve to get to the surface of the skin but the genital nerves also harbor the virus.  Though your husband never had any symptoms of herpes, it does not mean that he is not infected (unless he has actually had a herpes antibody test, IgG or western blot). 

Where was your shingles outbreak?  Are we sure that wasn't HSV as well?

The 1 gram of Valtrex daily will reduce transmission by about half - a huge benefit. 

You are shedding from time to time and you would be shedding from the genital tract.  The buttocks skin is too thick for virus to come out so it does not shed unless there is a lesion present.  

It is not really possible to know about your shedding frequency - how long ago did you culture positive from the buttocks lesion?

Terri

The shingles outbreak was by my right eye.

So was the outbreak by your eye swab test positive for shingles virus, do you know?  It is also possible this was HSV 1, reactivating near the eye.  Probably not important at this point to try to sort that out. 

Terri

Canker sores inside the mouth are not caused by herpes, correct.  We don't honestly know what causes canker sores but usually they are associated with some sort of food reaction. 

Terri