herpes whitlow?

so I think I'm having my first outbreak since my original one 5 years ago :-( and its showing up on my hands! during my first outbreak, about two weeks later I started getting bumps on my hands. That is when my doctor told me about herpes Whitlow.

with my already paranoid non herpes positive boyfriend this is the last thing I need on my plate right now :-( does anybody have any experience with this? And if so any and all information about not passing it along to him or anybody else as I am a nanny for my full time job :-( if I touch something and somebody touches after can they get it? What about caring for it? I need help!

Hey!

Did you get your hands swabbed to make sure it's actually herpetic whitlow? Getting a swab is the only way to know for sure. It is very, very rare for herpes to be spread to the fingers. From everything I heard, you have to try hard to spread it, ;) like open a herpes sore and get it into a cut on your finger. Auto-inoculation like this only seems to happen with people who have weakened immune systems. Besides possibly spreading herpes to your eye if you rub your outbreak then rub your eye (called ocular herpes), other parts of the body are more protected by all the antibodies your immune system has been building up ever since your initial herpes exposure.

Here are some other posts on this forum that have to do with herpes whitlow:

http://herpeslife.com/herpes-forum/discussion/479/questions-about-hsv-1/p1

http://herpeslife.com/herpes-forum/discussion/1335/herpes-outbreaks-on-your-hand/p1

http://herpeslife.com/herpes-forum/discussion/433/herpes-whitlow/p1

Thanks Adrial! My Dr. Office is closed till tomorrow morning so I plan on calling first thing. I am already on suppressive medication so I upped my dosage to what they had me taking during my initial outbreak 5 years ago. I never had it swabbed the first time this happen 5 years ago because my dr at the time was so sure it was Whitlow considering the timing. Thank you for these links! I will keep you posted on what happens tomorrow :-)