Guaranteed Herpes?!


Question: Husband and I are in disagreement. If person number one has herpes blister that is not broken on their arm for example and person number two touches it, Are they guaranteed to get herpes or is it just highly possible, or does the blister have to be open?


Answers: Husband and I are in disagreement. If person number one has herpes blister that is not broken on their arm for example and person number two touches it, Are they guaranteed to get herpes or is it just highly possible, or does the blister have to be open?

Depends what part of their body they are touching it with :-)

First rules about herpes:

(1) It is only infectious FROM the area of the body that was originally infected - so if someone has herpes of the arm (unusual but possible - happens among wrestlers), ONLY their arm can be infectious, not their genitals or their mouth.

(2) The same goes for person 2- it only infects the area that the virus comes into contact with, so person 2, if they touch the infected area with a finger, can ONLY get it on the finger. If they kiss it, they can ONLY catch it on the mouth, and so on.

(3) Herpes needs either broken or damaged skin, or mucous membrane/oral/genital tissue to enter the body through. It does NOT penetrate normal unbroken skin. So, if person 2 does not have broken skin on their finger, they will not get herpes of the finger (known as herpes whitlow). If however they bite their nails to the quick, they might get herpes whitlow, if they have broken the skin.


If what you are asking is if an unbroken herpes blister is infectious, or if it is only infectious once it has burst - yes, it is infectious.

Herpes doesn't even need a blister or a sore to be infectious. It can be infectious with NO symptoms whatsoever. That is why 70% of herpes infections are passed when the person has no symptoms. I caught genital herpes from my partner giving me oral sex. He has a history of cold sores (oral herpes). When he infected me, he hadn't had one for months. Oral herpes type 1 is infectious 5-10% of the time when symptoms just aren't there.

The most infectious period is from the very first warning sign the virus is activating - often a slight soreness or a tingle, before a blister even appears - to at least 5 days after the sore has completely healed.

When researchers monitored viral shedding, they found that this is the period when they tend to detect the virus present on the skin. There were also periods in between outbreaks when the virus was present, often for a stretch of about 5 days - like an outbreak without symptoms.

As for contact with a blister or an open sore, it is highly possible but not guaranteed. The person may have that type of herpes already - if you caught cold sores as a child but never get them, and you kiss a partner with a cold sore, you can't catch his oral herpes infection if it is the same type as yours.

I have genital hsv-1 and my partner has oral hsv-1. I have had sex with him during an outbreak, and I have kissed him when he had an open cold sore, but as we both have the same type and have antibodies to the virus we have't caught the same virus somewhere else on our body. 80% of adults have hsv-1 and 25% have hsv-2. Having hsv-1 also slightly reduces your risk of catching hsv-2.

Also, with genital herpes, women are more likely to have it than men - 20% of men have it versus 25% of women. So men are more likely to come into contact with a partner with herpes than women are, but less likely to catch it. It is believed women are more susceptible than men because of the design of our genitals - more mucous membrane etc.

So no, infection isn't guaranteed.

Signs show in 2-20 days, average about 4-7.

highly possible but not guaranteed

even INTERCOURSE won't make it guaranteed, but chances are, infection WILL occur

Highly possible but not guaranteed!

if they washed their hands after touching then not possible. possible too get an infection on your finger but rare. if they touched a wet area on the body like mouth, nose, eyes, genitals, then it would be possible.





The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories