I am a 24 y/o male. I have had a couple open cuts on my penis in the past under my foreskin (see my past questions on this forum), but have always tested negative for HSV 1/2. I was having protected sex the other day, and noticed as I was thrusting that I could not always see the base of the condom when I would push my penis in. The condom did not seem to be covering my whole penis, but only 1/2 to 3/4s of it. My biggest fear is that I have undiagnosed HSV2 and exposed my partner to it. My questions are as follows:

1) Is not being able to see the base of the condom when having sex common?

2) Would the condom have slid down over the lower part of my penis as I thrust in, therefore protecting the lower part of my penis?

3) I know the virus can shed from anywhere on the penis, but what parts of the penis is it most likely to shed from?

4) Does the condom often cover half to three fourths of the penis (It may have only been half)?

5) If I do in fact have HSV2, what is risk I have posed to my partner?

Thank you!

1.  I would save that that visualization would be difficult for most men.

2.  It is possible that the condom could move down during penetration but difficult to say.

3.  Most viral shedding of herpes in men occurs from the shaft of the penis that delineates the specific part of the penis from which shedding occurs. When doing clinical trials looking at asymptomatic viral shedding we teach men to swab the entire penis.

4.  Most condoms cover the shaft of the penis, down to the base with possibly some area near the base not covered entirely

5.  We know that condoms reduce transmission of HSV-2 by 96%. I think we can safely assume that all men use and apply condoms in a similar fashion - there is no reason to think that you would be putting on a condom any differently than the vast majority of men studied, right?

If you want the best test to determine if you have herpes, that would be the herpes western blot from the University of Washington. 

Terri

1) When experiencing viral shedding, does the virus shed from the whole penis or only certain areas? Basically, could I have been shedding during the sex but the area that was shedding was covered by the condom, seeing as how the condom only covered half of my penis?

2) For #5, I am asking what the risk was to my partner considering that the condom was only covering half of my penis. Is this common? Based on your reply, it sounds like it is not. 

3) Will I be allowed a second response after this one? I only made a response to my original post because no one was responding to my post and the 48 hours had passed.

well, I can see why you are confused. Something about that dictation didn't come out right.  Studies have not looked at specific areas of the penis that shed virus.

1.  When shedding happens, it likely sheds from a specific area, yes, but we cannot know which area if no lesion is present.  And studies don't look at viral shedding from the penis in the way that you are asking about.  Swabbing is done of the entire shaft of the penis in research studies, not separate segments of the penis.

2.  I would say the risk is significantly reduced but I don't have a percentage for that reduction.

3.  You can have another question, yes.    Go ahead

Terri

1) Do you ever see an open cut/wound on the genitals that does not end up being herpes? I also had one of these swabbed the next day after symptoms appeared and it came back negative but unfortunately it was a culture, not PCR.

2) How many outbreaks does a person typically have in a year? If these were in fact outbreaks, I would have had two in two years. Is this common?

3) With my past history of "symptoms" and a negative IGG blood test taken more than six months after the suspect encounter that could have given me these symptoms, do you believe I require the western blot? If so, how can I go about getting that.

4) For my most recent encounter that was at at least partially condom-protected, what would your best estimate be for the likelihood I would have transmitted hsv2 to my partner? (If I have it) I see that from men to women it is a 10% transmission rate?

5) What is the percentage for viral shedding per year if I have been infected for almost two years?

1) Do you ever see an open cut/wound on the genitals that does not end up being herpes? I also had one of these swabbed the next day after symptoms appeared and it came back negative but unfortunately it was a culture, not PCR.

oh, certainly!  Men who still have a foreskin can often get breaks in the skin.  These could be caused by a fungal condition (most often) and even bacteria.

2) How many outbreaks does a person typically have in a year? If these were in fact outbreaks, I would have had two in two years. Is this common?

The usual number of outbreaks of HSV 2 in a year is 2-4

3) With my past history of "symptoms" and a negative IGG blood test taken more than six months after the suspect encounter that could have given me these symptoms, do you believe I require the western blot? If so, how can I go about getting that.

I only think that if you are having difficulty putting this worry behind you.  If you had a negative western blot, you would know that in the future, these kinds of cuts are not due to herpes.

4) For my most recent encounter that was at at least partially condom-protected, what would your best estimate be for the likelihood I would have transmitted hsv2 to my partner? (If I have it) I see that from men to women it is a 10% transmission rate?

That's 10% having sex 104 times in a year!  You can do the math here, but it's very low.

5) What is the percentage for viral shedding per year if I have been infected for almost two years?

For people who have symptoms, they shed virus on about 20% of days, for people who simply test positive but have no symptoms, about 10% of days.

Terri