This event actually happened about four years ago. The thought of it would pop up rarely, over the years, but I decided to just ask about it to end any worry for good.

On Christmas of 2015, I went to my relatives house for a family gathering.  At that point in my life, my OCD about STD's had already started to ramp up. That day I had a small surface cut/scratch on my hand (I think it might have been on my thumb). I believe this was due to over washing. I don't remember if I had gotten the cut that day, or a previous day, so no clue how old the cut was.  

At some point, during the family gathering at my relatives house, I had the urge to urinate so I used their downstairs bathroom -- the only one available to all guests. Everything went about as normal -- used the toilet, then washed my hands. But then came the moment when I had to dry my hands.  Due to my OCD and worry about the surface cut on my hand, I paused and became reluctant to dry my hands on the hand towels everyone else had used. The inside bathtub/shower was covered in Christmas decorations, and sealed with the glass sliding door shut. I noticed there was either a Christmas towel or cloth decoration of some type sitting on one of the shower shelves that I figured no one had ever used, so I opened the sliding door and used that to dry my hands. Yes, I still feel incredibly silly for doing it, but this was a time when my OCD starting to take flight.

Fast forward about two to three months later. Through conversation, I learn that one of my relatives, who was present at that Christmas family gathering, had contracted HSV-2 in 2014. This relative is female, by the way. So of course this led me to worry about my use of that bathroom. I don't know if she used that bathroom at all that day, so I couldn't say whether or not she used it before me. This relative does not live in that house, but she does seem to visit it often to spend time with other relatives.

I understand how the rules of contracting HSV-2 work -- it dies in a matter of seconds on surfaces. But does having a surface cut/scratch on my hand, regardless if fresh or old, make any difference? I'm mainly concerned with touching the bathroom sink faucet handle. I basically want to verify that my use of that bathroom wasn't a risk for HSV-2 since I had a small cut on my hand.

I'm sorry you've worried about this for so long.  The situation you describe has ZERO risk to you whatsoever.  Herpes is a sexually transmitted infection and is not spread in the way you describe. 

Terri

Thank you for your direct response. After I realized I was suffering with OCD, when I noticed I was asking you far too many questions on the subject of STD's, I reminded myself of one of your answers -- "If your question doesn't involve sex, then the answer will be No". That is why it's taken me so many years to finally ask about this situation. I've done quite well recovering from OCD, through the help of therapy, but I still have a little bit of a way to go.

I no longer have "What if?" thoughts about my day to day experiences, but the Christmas family gathering bathroom event has been the only one to linger in my head. And that is because out of all the "What if?" situations I've worried about, this is the only one where I know someone who has HSV-2 was present.

While I was worried about contracting HSV-2 from the bathroom faucet handle, I was more so worried about what I dried on my hands on. Since it's been about four years since this happened, I cannot remember if I dried my hands on a towel, or the cloth of a Christmas decoration. As I said in my original question, my OCD worry had prevented me from drying my hands on the hand towels, that everyone else had used, since I had a surface cut on my hand. So instead, I dried my hands on something that was sitting on the shower shelf. The inside shower was decorated with Christmas decorations, with the sliding glass door closed, giving it a nice display for guests as they used the bathroom. Silly me slid opened the glass door and dried my hands on something that was on the shower shelf. I want to say it was a Christmas decoration ( something like the cloth on a 12 inch Santa Claus figurine), but too many  years have passed for me to remember, and I never thought I would think back on this. So this has left a "What if?" question in my head for years; making me ponder if it may have been either a wash cloth or body towel that I dried my hands on. And since my relative who has HSV-2 was present at the gathering, it has made me worry if she might have showered in there and used those towels, prior to me using them.

However, through rational thought, I helped myself into thinking this was nothing to worry about. Since that inside shower was decorated with Christmas decorations(wreaths and glass/metal figurines), the kind you CANNOT shower with or get wet, it leaves me to believe no one had showered in there that day. Or least it had been quite some time since someone might have showered in there before I showed up(I arrived in the afternoon, and most of my family had already arrived before I did). And since it was so nicely decorated, I doubt my relative, who owns the house, would have left used wash cloths/body towels in there. The relative who has HSV-2 does not live in that house, but she does visit there quite often, but there's a chance she didn't even use that shower.

Regardless, this has been the one and only "What if?" to follow me for years. It's the thought of me drying my hands on used towels that my relative, who has HSV-2, might have dried/washed her body with, that has me worried about contracting it on my hands. I don't know how long after I arrived to the gathering, when I used that bathroom.  Might have been ten minutes; twenty; half an hour? No clue. I understand this is not a sexual event, but your response would greatly help me eliminate this back and forth thinking for good.

I think you know the answer here - this is not a risk.  And then you should ask yourself, who, when using a guest bathroom, uses a decorative holiday towel to,for some reason, dry their genitals?  And the skin of your hands is too thick for virus to penetrate.  So many reasons you should let this go entirely. 

Terri

Thank you again for your reply. Over the years, I have actually considered the fact that a Holiday decorative towel would not have been used to wipe ones own genitals.  It's that fact that has helped me push the worry aside for so long. However, it's the idea of it possibly being a "regular"  towel, used by my infected relative during a shower, that continues to haunt me. Especially since I had a cut/tear on my hand. 

I think to eliminate the worry completely, I need to realize that even in the "worst case scenario" -- that being the idea of my relative using the wash cloth/towel before I arrived to the family gathering, it would still be a no risk situation. Knowing how the virus works: HSV-2 dies in a matter of seconds on surfaces; you need direct contact with the infected person/area; and as you just previously mentioned -- skin on the hands is too thick for the virus to penetrate. 

So with all that in mind, I would like to finish this off with two final questions:

1. Am I correct about my conclusion on the "worst case scenario" being a no risk situation? And would having a cut/tear on the skin of my hand make any difference? I believe the cut was either on my thumb, or on the webbing between my thumb and index finger.

2. Since the virus can't penetrate the skin of my hands, would it make it problematic if I touched any other part of my body afterwards?

1.  You are indeed correct.  If you had contracted herpes on your hand, your symptoms would have been VERY obvious as whitlow is remarkable

2.  No, not enough virus could make all those transfers.  I promise you that this experience was not a risk for contracting herpes, and I don't do that very often!

Terri