They have become more and more similar over the last few decades, with both strains popping up in both places with regularity. I don’t distinguish them because they are basically the same.

I have. It sucked. It hurt. Its still just a rash. It doesn’t cause any other illness except, a) if you give birth during an outbreak, you need a c-section (which is common even without HSV), and b) HIV is more likely to spread, so don’t bareback people if you don’t know their HIV status - and you shouldn’t be doing…

Yes, at that time (according to my doctor) they couldn’t differentiate between I and II in a test on a person showing no symptoms and he said over 90% of the population will come back positive though most people would never have had an outbreak of I. I think they had to swab you to test what you had during an…

If I’m reading your comment right you’re saying they couldn’t differentiate between types I and II with the blood test then? I know they can differentiate between types I and II with a blood test now at least. But they still don’t usually test for it unless you have an outbreak, I guess because the test can’t tell…

Herpes is never included in routine STI screenings. Doctors only test for it when there are symptoms or in a patients request - and most never request it. She’d have no way of pinpointing when she’d caught it unless she had an outbreak - although that still isn’t clear cut proof.

70% of adults have type 1 herpes, “cold sores”, and that strain if you look closer at that science you’ve cited is the major culprit of health problems. It’s actually killed a few newborns. Type 2, “genital herpes”, which is carried by at least 25% of adults (most people are never tested) is much less likely to cause…

Yeah, most people will test positive for it. And you can pass it to someone else without ever having symptoms. So it’s impossible to say where your ex got it but it’s entirely possible you’d gotten it from someone else, then passed it to her and she ended up with symptoms. Not that you should feel guilty about that…

Except that herpes is really really common and type 1 herpes, “cold sores”, can actually be passed to the genital area and cause the same symptoms as type 2, and yet people with cold sores - a nearly identical virus - aren’t expected to disclose. Also most carriers of type 2 never have symptoms and so can pass it…

I’ll point out to the haters that Type 1 is the much more dangerous strain to infants (the only dangerous strain? I’ve only heard of type 1 causing health issues) and that doesn’t stop people from slobbering all over newborns with their very likely cold sore infected lips. 70%+ adults carry type 1 herpes.

Thank you, that’s great information. I asked to be tested many years ago as I was concerned I’d been exposed and they said, no because all that it would tell me was whether I had at some point been exposed to either I or II and as nearly everyone has been exposed to I, it would be meaningless. They told me to come…

First off, it isn’t strictly an STD. You can get it on your back for instance. Skin to skin contact will do. The stigmatization occurred after the medicine came out. We are talking 90% of people with oral herpes and 20% general population with genital.

As someone who recently developed an IVD for herpes, I can tell you that most HSV diagnostics are only cleared for testing symptomatic patients and don’t subtype. HSV 1 OR HSV2 only. No strains. That would require some extensive testing that just isn’t normally done.

Having the same strain still doesn’t prove he was the one who gave it to her unless he is the only carrier. How her people would have gotten access to the particular strain he allegedly carries, I don’t know. It is exceedingly rare for anyone to be tested for exposure to herpes unless they are having an outbreak so it…

I’m wondering how she even ‘knows’ he gave it to her. From the way the story is reported it sounds like she’s had no symptoms, but got tested because it became public he had it and then she came up positive. I don’t think the test can tell when you got it, so she could have had it without symptoms for years. This is a…

The only reasonable comment on this topic thus far. It’s amazing how people react to herpes when as recently as the 1970s or whatever decade pre-Valtrex, it was not a big deal! It was only stigmatized to make money for pharma. And before everyone gets up in my face about it, yes it’s deadly to babies but that is both…

You are just as likely to catch herpes from a person who thinks they don’t have herpes than someone who knows they do have it. Half of people have herpes. Half of people with herpes know it. So, 25% of the population knows they have it, and 75% thinks they don’t. 70% of transmissions are from people who don’t know…

Adam Ruins Everything says that everyone already has herpes.

I mean, it’s mostly internal

Hey bros, look at all this weed I bought from this super cool upperclassman I know! He told me “Oregano” was this awesome new strain of dope. I can’t wait to try it! Let’s wait till our parents leave and go carve an apple we can smoke it out of.

This is infuriating. Especially because the foster care system is hard on children. It’s hard on children who actually should be in it because they legitimately come from a dangerous household, and it’s a whole other level of hard on children who shouldn’t have been removed in the first place. No one wins in the…