Outbreaks Research

Here's a question for the community:

If a person already has oral herpes, how does that affect a newly acquired genital infection? Does it lessen the severity of outbreaks "down there"? Since most genital herpes positives have mild/no symptoms, is that because most of them also have oral herpes?

I thought I had read that if you have one, it does lessen the other, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me on that. I can say that I have mild/no symptoms for my hsv 2, but I don't have hsv 1. I think it just affects everyone differently.

@needsupport You can find info on this on page 5 of the Herpes Handbook which is page 7 of this PDF. The heading is "NON-PRIMARY." https://www.westoverheights.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Updated-Herpes-Book.pdf

In short, individual outcomes vary but someone who contracts HSV2 after already having HSV1 is less likely than average to have or notice symptoms of HSV2. Already, 80-90% of people do not recognize a genital herpes infection, but this is more likely among those who already have oral HSV1. It is not universal, however. Some people do express symptoms of both.

@jl13 I've had hsv-1 since I was a toddler. I am now 30 years old. So, I'm just curious if there's a pattern with hsv-2 carriers whom also have hsv-1 and if the new infection has been affected at all. I'm going next week to be tested (17 weeks post last encounter and no outbreaks that I'm aware of).

@optimist thanks for the info. I took a minute to look over the handbook. Like I said to jl13, I've had hsv-1 since I was a baby (2 years old is when had primary oral outbreak). So, before going for my blood test next week, just doing some research since I learned hsv is not regularly tested for during routine std panels.