Everyone is different how their body reacts to HSV. It took years for me to have a first outbreak. And for many people, they have it in their body but NEVER have an actual visible outbreak. But to answer your question, yes you can still transmit herpes when you're not having an outbreak! It's called asymptomatic viral shedding; it happens about 5-10% of the time. Your body sheds the virus silently and it's just as likely to pass it during these times as an active outbreak. If your doc said you were exposed to it but don't have it, that is confusing. Did you get an IgG test? That's a blood test where you will get a definitive answer whether you have the actual virus in your body or not. It measures the antibodies in your blood. It will tell you whether you have HSV-1 or HSV-2 or both or none. This test doesn't come with regular STD testing, so you have to ask for it specifically. Good luck, laurap!