I’ve had cold sores since a child, I am now 37.  I recently masturbated using saliva.  Soon after I realised a small cold sore was developing at the side of my mouth.  Is there any chance of transmission to genitals?   Also can the cold sore virus live in saliva? 

Ive seen some other posts that’s say this is not possible.  Is this based on studies or something similar? 

Thanks,

It is correct that once you have HSV  in one location, you are extremely unlikely to get the same type in a new location.  This is likely based on the experience of many of us who specialize in herpes.  In 35 years of specializing in herpes, I have seen this one time.

Terri

So this is really nothing to worry about?  Should I just get on with life and not worry about it?

Is it correct symptoms usually appear between 2-10 days if they were to appear?

Yes, I think this is nothing to worry about.  And it is correct that most symptoms will show up in 2-10 days after infection.

Terri

I doubt it.  If it blisters or ulcerates, someone should take a look at it.  Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it.

Terri

I know I’ve asked more questions than allowed so happy if you want to charge me again for these additional questions.  Contrary to what I said yesterday, the small amount of redness/itching is still there.  It hasn’t changed in any way, just small patch of redness and slight itching. 

1.  I popped into the local doctor yesterday to have him view the area of redness.  He said he couldn’t see anything that looked like herpes, however he said sometimes it presents a-typical when hsv1 is on the groin so hard to tell.   He also told me it is still possible to transfer HSV-1 to the groin even after a long standing oral infection.  This kinda confused me and now has me more worried.  Can you reassure me again I don’t have to worry about this?  Why do you think there are conflicting opinions of this?

He is totally mistaken. There is absolutely no way to distinguish HSV 1 and HSV 2 by appearance, either genitally or orally.  Is this physician an STD expert, like at an STD clinic?  I do not agree with him.  I think there are conflicting opinions about this because we have no way to prove a negative.  However, I can say that in 35 years of practice specializing in herpes infection, I have had only one case of a person reporting that they believed that they had cold sores as a child but got a genital lesion that swab tested positive for HSV 1.  One case, and I'm not sure her history of cold sores as a child was correct.

3. I asked if he could swab the area but he said it’s probably no point as there isn’t much there (ie no blisters or sores - only small amount of redness) so it would probably come out negative anyway.   Do you agree with this?

Nope.  The way we know about asymptomatic viral shedding is to have people swabbing their genitals daily, with and without symptoms, and some of those swabs were positive (20% of days in people who have known HSV 2 infection).  So of course you can swab normal or slightly abnormal skin for herpes.

4. Is there anything else I can do to put my mind at ease?  I feel like there is no test I can take to prove this isn’t a genital infection as I already have the antibodies in my system?

That's correct

Terri