[Question #8721] HSV 1 and genital outbreaks
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40 months ago
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My 18 y.o. daughter is in the middle of her first outbreak. Test results indicated that she has HSV 1; however her lesions, very severe according to her gyn, are both in her mouth and genital area. Will future outbreaks likely be in her mouth only since it's HSV 1?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
40 months ago
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I'm sorry this happened to your daughter. It is more likely that she will have recurrences orally than genitally. These two viruses have what are called "site preferences". that is, HSV 2 strongly prefers to live and recur and in the genital area where HSV 1 prefers the oral area. Most HSV 1 genital infection comes from receiving oral sex from a partner with cold sore virus, whether there is a sore present at the time or not. And she likely kissed that person as well. HSV 1, after having it for a year, recurs about once every other year. How often she recurs with cold sores orally is unknown until she has some time with the virus. Is this a regular partner for her? How is she doing emotionally?
Terri
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40 months ago
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Thank you. She is quite devastated emotionally and physically. She still can’t walk well and has horrible scabs on her mouth after almost a week of Valtrex, steroids, antibiotics and diflucan. It is her high school boyfriend who didn’t know he had anything. She is crazy about him and her dad is not having it. We are keeping fingers crossed that this ends up as an infrequent cold sore but understand it’s way too early to tell. She’s also very worried about going far away for college in 6 months and having another outbreak. We hope she doesn’t change her mind. Any resources on counseling/therapy options would be appreciated.
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
40 months ago
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oh my goodness, poor sweetheart! I would be so happy to talk with her on a video consult if you think that would be helpful. We can do that at westoverheights.com. It's complicated and there are lots of emotions running high right now. She can definitely go off to college with a prescription to treat any cold sores that come up or genital outbreaks. We can talk about how that should go. I would guess that her dad would have been fine with him if she got only oral herpes from kissing? Much to discuss, I would love to meet with her.
Terri
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