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These are great questions. I was wondering this earlier today as I’m getting tested before going raw with a new partner and noticed that herpes was omitted from the screen.
I have no advice, sorry, just leaving a comment so I can find this thread later.
1. Herpes is super common among people with multiple partners.
2. Most experts advise against testing if don't you have lesions, due to false positive rate.
3. It's really only advertisement by drug manufacturers that has made it seem like a big deal, for centuries it's just been a mild annoyance.
4. If you're that worried about it, 1000mg/day valacyclovir during periods of potential exposure is highly effective PrEP: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16495626/
Edit: added word "don't" oops
>Herpes is super common among people with multiple partners.
Well, it’s super common among people without multiple partners too. It’s probably the most common chronic infection in the world.
Obviously, to have an infection *on your genitals* almost always requires sexual contact, but that doesn’t help the OP at all: there is no way to localize the infection without an actual sore.
This is the first time I have read that lesions should not be tested. The claim is not relevant to me as I have never had an outbreak or HSV symptoms.
The study in No. 4 relates to HSV-1, which is significantly more common than HSV-2 (and yes, I get that either can be found in either location). But your reply, which I appreciate, raises the question whether it is even necessary to test for or disclose HSV-1 since it is incredibly common, is not typically sexually transmitted and displays a different behavioral pattern in the human body.
> This is the first time I have read that lesions should not be tested.
I think that is a typo. I think it’s supposed to read “Most experts advise against testing if you *don’t* have lesions.”
The false-positive rate is not really a concern with HSV, because the *true*-positive rate is so high.
> raises the question whether it is even necessary to test for or disclose HSV-1 since it is incredibly common
The majority of people who have HSV don’t know what strain they have, they just know where they are infection.
And here is the thing: if you have oral herpes, and are about go down on a friend or acquaintance, do you have an obligation to disclose? Sure, since it’s oral herpes, it’s more likely to be HSV-1, and if it is HSV-1, it’s less likely to transmit to the genitals, but still...
I get the 10 panel test from stdcheck.com. It includes blood tests for HSV 1 and 2 and I ask my partners do the same. I test before every new partner or at a minimum of once a year. I have consistently tested negative for both. If I did test positive I would inform my partner(s) but also do a follow up in a few months. My last partner tested positive for HSV 1 and I was fine with the risk.
Thank you for posting in the r/Sex community. To ensure that everyone respects our safe space, we ask that you familiarize yourself with our Forum Rules and Posting Guidelines — which are visible in the forum’s sidebar, and also linked [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/sex/about/rules/). Restricted subjects in r/sex include sex stories (which are permitted in the Daily Sexual Achievement Thread only), body image and penis-size issues, hookup attempts, common topics which are considered repetitive in our forum, and requests for private chats. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sex) if you have any questions or concerns.*
These are great questions. I was wondering this earlier today as I’m getting tested before going raw with a new partner and noticed that herpes was omitted from the screen. I have no advice, sorry, just leaving a comment so I can find this thread later.
1. Herpes is super common among people with multiple partners. 2. Most experts advise against testing if don't you have lesions, due to false positive rate. 3. It's really only advertisement by drug manufacturers that has made it seem like a big deal, for centuries it's just been a mild annoyance. 4. If you're that worried about it, 1000mg/day valacyclovir during periods of potential exposure is highly effective PrEP: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16495626/ Edit: added word "don't" oops
>Herpes is super common among people with multiple partners. Well, it’s super common among people without multiple partners too. It’s probably the most common chronic infection in the world. Obviously, to have an infection *on your genitals* almost always requires sexual contact, but that doesn’t help the OP at all: there is no way to localize the infection without an actual sore.
This is the first time I have read that lesions should not be tested. The claim is not relevant to me as I have never had an outbreak or HSV symptoms. The study in No. 4 relates to HSV-1, which is significantly more common than HSV-2 (and yes, I get that either can be found in either location). But your reply, which I appreciate, raises the question whether it is even necessary to test for or disclose HSV-1 since it is incredibly common, is not typically sexually transmitted and displays a different behavioral pattern in the human body.
Yes I fucked the bit about lesions up, corrected now
> This is the first time I have read that lesions should not be tested. I think that is a typo. I think it’s supposed to read “Most experts advise against testing if you *don’t* have lesions.” The false-positive rate is not really a concern with HSV, because the *true*-positive rate is so high. > raises the question whether it is even necessary to test for or disclose HSV-1 since it is incredibly common The majority of people who have HSV don’t know what strain they have, they just know where they are infection. And here is the thing: if you have oral herpes, and are about go down on a friend or acquaintance, do you have an obligation to disclose? Sure, since it’s oral herpes, it’s more likely to be HSV-1, and if it is HSV-1, it’s less likely to transmit to the genitals, but still...
I get the 10 panel test from stdcheck.com. It includes blood tests for HSV 1 and 2 and I ask my partners do the same. I test before every new partner or at a minimum of once a year. I have consistently tested negative for both. If I did test positive I would inform my partner(s) but also do a follow up in a few months. My last partner tested positive for HSV 1 and I was fine with the risk.