Hello experts, 

About a year and a half ago I was confirmed to have GHSV1 via swab. I haven’t had another sexual partner since my diagnosis because I wanted to wait and see how my body handled the virus and wait until shedding would be minimal. I know others jump into their next relationship much sooner, but I truly felt it was my responsibility to wait to protect my future partners. 

I never experienced a second outbreak in the first year, so I know there is an 88% chance I’ll never have another outbreak again. And I know once I‘ve reached two years post infection, I'll shed the virus asymptomatically around only 4 days a year. I've browsed through the other posts on this forum and it appears as though GHSV1 transmission is extraordinarily rare due to few or no recurrences and infrequent shedding. And suppressive therapy isn’t seen as necessary for GHSV1, but I could offer to take if for no other reason than to ease my partner’s mind.

While I know disclosure of GHSV1 is considered to be a personal choice, I feel morally obligated to disclose. I’ve seen Terri state it’s more about trust than transmission. While I have done my research and I understand my GHSV1 poses very little risk to my future partners, I worry they might not be able to understand that. While I find the facts easy to digest, I feel like someone lacking a little scientific literacy will have a hard time understanding that I do not have GHSV2.

Do you have any advice for how to communicate this to future partners?  

Hi Terri, 

Thank you! Being diagnosed with GHSV1 was really hard for me. I was 31 when I was diagnosed and I had never even had an abnormal pap smear before. I always practiced safe sex, but my partner did not disclose to me that they got cold sores. It’s reassuring to hear that I’ve interpreted the information that is available correctly.

I know that no transmission rates have been determined for GHSV1. However, I recognize that a future partner might want to know a hard statistic for transmission and could feel uneasy about that data not being available. I imagine because GHSV1 transmission is so rare, it would be extremely difficult to study. As a researcher myself, it seems like such a study would be extremely expensive and need to span many years – and to be honest might never be conducted. If a future partner were to ask why no transmission rates have been determined for GHSV1 what would be the best response to give them?

I did try to access the Westover Heights website, but I get an error message that reads “403-Forbidden – Access to this page is forbidden.” Is the website down?

Moving forward I would like to ask all of my future partners to be tested for HSV1 and HSV2. I really did not know much about HSV prior to my GHSV1 diagnosis and reading about GHSV2 was a little eye opening to me. To be honest, I think I’ve developed a bit of anxiety that my next partner might be carrying GHSV2 and not be aware of their status. Some of my friends have told me that I’m being irrational though and that people will not respond well to that request.