Hi.  I am a sexually active 70+ year old male.  About 35 years ago, I acquired herpes — and still experience periodic breakouts for which I will take some Valtrex.  Being in a monogamous relationship now, we have researched transmission risks factors but have some uncertainty regarding some of the posted information.  Can you please tell us what the risk is of transmitting genital herpes when there are no visible lesions and a condom is used?  BTW, we have had one intercourse session but decided, after a few minutes, to abort pending acquisition of reliable information.

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Thanks for your helpful answer.  Is it common during the early part of an outbreak to experience nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and mild fatigue and headache?  These symptoms have lasted only a day or two and then everything is fine.

No, none of those are related in any way to a new herpes infection.---

Oh, I did not mean to indicate that this was my first herpes question.  It seems that flu like symptoms often have accompanied breakouts.  The 97% protection rate with condoms is amazing efficacy.  There seems to be a lot of misinformation on the internet.  I really do not have any other questions but wonder if condoms are that effective against all STIs.  

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