[Question #9065] Herpes transmission per act

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36 months ago
Hello 
I’ve slept with a tinder date without knowing much about her. She says she’s had 5 partners but what worries me is that she asked to borrow money from me right after sex. She didn’t look like a prostitute though. 
We had protected vaginal and unprotected oral sex. What are my chances of genital herpes from this single act?
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36 months ago
If I don’t have symptoms after two weeks can I safely assume that I’m clear?
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36 months ago
I forgot to mention that I’m male
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
36 months ago
If you don't have symptoms after two weeks, it is unlikely that you acquired HSV.  If you had protected sex, and let's say you were infected, the condom reduced transmission by 65%.    I think you are likely clear of risk at this point.

Terri
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36 months ago
Thanks Terri 
But how much is the risk from this single encounter? I read it’s around 0.6 per 1000 protected acts. Is it more or less correct? How about the oral sex? I have had cold sore when I was younger. Does it protect me from acquiring hsv1 genitally? 
Also she says she’s never had any symptoms. Does it reduce my risk? 
Does this single encounter warrant any testing?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
36 months ago
The cold sore that you had as a young person should protect your from acquiring HSV 1 in a new location.  Are the exceptions to that?  Yes, but they are really rare.  
I don't honestly think we have a great statistics on single encounter transmission WITH a condom. We have pretty good data if the transmission is between a couple where we know one person has HSV 2 and the other doesn't but that's not what we have here.   I'm not sure where you got the number, but that sounds close to me.  If we assume that she did indeed have HSV 2. It 's good that she reports not having any symptoms, but that isn't definitive on whether she is infected or not.
Given the poor state of HSV antibody test, with such a low risk encounter, I don't recommend testing in your situation, no.

Terri
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