I don't doubt or disagree with your figures for % of population exposed, but I've always heard that it's generally only contagious when active. (During or just before an outbreak). I've heard stories of people infected that have managed to avoid transmitting it to a LTR partner through being careful. (And honest).

A big part of the problem is dishonesty caused by shame, IOW, people not telling partners out of fear of rejection. And if they don't tell them before the first time they have sex, pretty hard to break it to them later and explain why they did not tell them in the first place. If 25% of the total population has it, than the #s among young, sexually active people in the last 30 years must be higher. (Grandma and Grampa don't probably have it).

Not true. Not at all true. That is the point. Like I said, CAREFUL couples have an 85% transmission rate within 6 months. Remember, the majority of infected people do not know they are infected! These asymptomatic "carriers" will shed virus and infect new partners.

Although the viral load is less, asymptomatic HSV infected persons still shed the virus and still infect others.

So you recommend mandatory testing before starting any new relationship?

Test yourself first. Ask your doc to order an HSV IgG and IgM blood test. You might be surprised by the result.

Yeah, I was implying both parties getting tested. As for that 85% infection rate, do you have a link for that? Not calling BS, it's just different from the info I've seen before regarding transmission while not having an outbreak.

Okay, so the obvious next question is - what are the consequences of being exposed, of being infected, of being active? I guess I don't know if herpes is a big deal, a medium deal, or no big deal.

Well how the hell would i know if there are no signs/symptoms and the chick doesn't say anything.

At any rate, if i have it, it's obviously just as a carrier, as i've never had any symptoms whatsoever downstairs, at any point in my life, and i have had the pleasure of a lot of female companions over the years. :D

Well from what you're saying, half the board WOULD be surprised by the result.

The latter, in general. Like most germs, this baby has been around since long before dawn of man. We have learned, during the last decades, that we carry a lot of 'dormant' virus in our bodies threw out our lives, often infected in childhood.

This particular type of virus belong to a large group a virus, typically known as the Herpes Virus group. Most of them will stay with you for the rest of your life, once infected and most people are infected. Another typical virus in this group is the Epstein-Barr virus, Mononucleosis disease. Again, most people have been infected but many do not know or remember. Still in your body.

These types of virus will in general not posses a serious threat to your health as long as you have a competent immune defensive system. They can be pretty annoying however, from time to time.

There is huge variability in host response to HSV. It is likely due to the quality of an individuals immune response to that particular virus.

When you first get infected, lets say it was with a small viral load, maybe exposure to a partner who was shedding the virus but did not have a full-blown outbreak. Lets also say that by pure luck, the first immunoglobulins you produced in response to the virus "fit" the virus particularly well and are very effective at neutralizing the virus. Although you have been infected and could infect others, you may never have an obvious outbreak.

There is HUGE variation is host response to HSV infection. Some never get symptoms, some get frequent recurring and somewhat debilitating outbreaks. Others will be infected for decades before showing signs of infection then later in life under extreme physical stress and perhaps immune suppression, they get a classic HSV outbreak even though the primary infection was decades earlier.

Can't find the reference, but I remember the 85% transmission rate is for women. Much less for men. It's easier for women to get HSV from men than vice versa.

There are some really poor studies published about discordant couples (one is HSV pos/one is neg) where they measure transmission rates over time. These studies are poor because those established couples have been exposing one another for quite some time and no transmission has occurred. They are selecting for couples where one partner is essentially HSV immune. (Not common.)

Caught it 20 years ago next week. For my 21st birthday no less. She had to be my hottest girlfriend ever, I wish I had pics to post :D.

I was pretty upset by it at first, but you learn to deal with it, and after a while it's a non-issue. Just try to keep stress low and don't eat lobster twice a day for a few days in a row when you're in Maine :(

Been married for 14 years. Wife has shown no symptoms.

This is another example of the dangers of being single in this day and age...

I swear when I start getting serious with the girl and before sleeping with her I have to have the following:
Credit report
Blood work

If they don't see the importance of these items then they're down the road and just saved me a lot of time, money and possibly doctors visits!

Fortunetly I think I've finally found the one... good credit & clean blood work...oh and a job!

I tell yah, it's a jungle of love out there!!

wrap it up fellas

Its not just "this day and age" my friend, as this has been going on for a very long time.

Sorry to take a while to get back on this thread. Cannot let 125shifter be the only one here to say something.

I was 19 years old and working a summer job in the mid-west. I made a slight mistake and shacked up with the boss's daughter for 10 days before heading back to college. When I say that she was the boss's daughter, I mean both mine and my Fathers boss as we both worked for the same company. Cute little blonde who today is worth close to a billion bux. I am still friends with her Father, who was the boss.

About 5 days after we first got together I woke up and it really hurt to take a whizz. Thought nothing about it and went to work. Got home that night and in cleaning up after work found that my johnson had a couple of water filled blisters on it that shortly popped open, causing a lot of pain. She saw me trying to figure out what was wrong and did not say a word. It was herpes... and this was 1972. We parted ways with her still not saying a word about it, which I know was both difficult for her and as well something that needed to be said.

There was no treatment in those days, only put a lot of talcum powder on the puppy and hope that the blisters did not break when you had an outbreak, which was at least once a month early on, and this lasted for a time period of 3 years.

Finally came the first medicine in the 1980's and it was a life saver, no matter if it was very expensive and you had to take pills 5 times a day. Years after that came the better med that you take a couple of times a day and it gets knocked down right away.

I now have it flare up 1-2 times a year at the most and sometimes not for years. but the medicine is always with me. So are the rubbers and so is my standard "discussion" before having sex with someone. They need to know, not find out about it afterwards. This way they can make a decision themselves. I have been married twice and one of the times was for 11 years and neither of the ladies, that I know of, every caught anything.

There are a lot more people with "H" than most people think. We did not want and now cannot get rid of it. Most likely most of the people reading this thread have a good chance of being exposed to it. Hopefully it stays dormant...