STD: HERPES CAN BE TRANSMITTED WHEN SOMEONE IS NOT HAVING SYMTOMS
It used to be thought that in order to transmit herpes, the infected person must have a sore or another symptom of a herpes outbreak, such as itching, tingling, or leg pain. In other words, the message was “If you’re having an outbreak, abstain from sex, but if you’re not having symptoms, then you can safely have unprotected sex and not transmit the virus.” We now know that the first part of this statement is true, but the second part is not. Herpes can be transmitted when someone is not having symptoms. This is new information for most laypersons, and for most health care providers as well.
This had been suspected for a while, because many couples with one partner infected with genital herpes and the other partner uninfected found that they had transmitted the virus, even though they had been careful during outbreaks. Research has shown that the virus can be detected in the mouths of people with oral herpes, or the genital areas of people with genital herpes, even when they are not experiencing symptoms. Although we don’t know how much virus is necessary for transmission, this research shows that herpes can be transmitted by an infected person who has no symptoms. It is estimated that about 70 percent of transmission of oral and genital herpes occurs when people are unaware that they are infectious.
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