How to Reduce Your Chances of Spreading Herpes to Your Partner
Is it possible to prevent herpes infection?
Yes, definitely. Herpes often brings about some changes in a couple’s sex life. Many couples have been in a relationship for years without ever transmitting herpes. Some simply avoid having sexual contact when signs or symptoms are present.
while others use condoms or other protection in between outbreaks to help guard against asymptomatic viral shedding.
If you take the necessary precautions, the chances of spreading the virus to your partner are small. Genital herpes does not necessarily mean complete abstinence from sex or a reduced enjoyment of sex. If you both know the facts and keep the issue in perspective, it can be only a minor inconvenience.
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What is the chance of spreading herpes to my partner?
It varies whether you are a man or a woman. In either case, the risk of spreading herpes to a partner is very, very small if you abstain from contact with the affected area during outbreaks.
For a woman with HSV-2 genital herpes, the chance of spreading the virus to a man if they abstain from having sex during outbreaks is approximately 4% in a year. For a man with HSV-2 genital herpes, the chance of passing the virus onto a female partner if they abstain from sex during outbreaks is close to 10% in a year. Read mor facts about what’s your risk of spreading herpes?.
How can you prevent the spread of herpes
If you have herpes, how to reduce your risk of spreading herpes to you partners?. By using the following practices, many people have been successful in NOT spreading herpes to their partner(s. Even though there are no guarantees. Everyone has a different situation. Your risk of transmitting the virus to your partner(s) might be much much lower. Genital herpes does not necessarily mean complete abstinence from sex or a reduced enjoyment of sex.
1. Tell Your Partner
It is important that both you and your partner understand what herpes is, what this condition involves and the precautions that should be followed to help prevent transmission. Telling a partner is often the hardest step, but once you have done this you can be honest with each other and work together to safe-guard against HSV.
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2. Avoid Sex During Outbreaks
Although it’s unlikely that you’re going to want to be intimate during an outbreak, it’s important to know that this is the time when the virus is most active and most likely to be transmissible, Wait until all your symptoms go away, including any sores, itching, and tingling.
If you have thrush or small abrasions from sexual intercourse, often due to insufficient lubrication. It can be helpful to use a lubricant specifically for sexual intercourse and avoid sex if you have thrush. Sexual lubrication is helpful right at the start of sexual activity.
Sores in other areas, such as the buttocks and thighs, can be just as contagious as those in the genital area, and care should be taken to avoid direct contact with such sores during sex.
3. Use Male Condoms
Condoms don’t prevent herpes transmission, but they help, cutting down the rate of transmission by about 30%. Condoms are not totally effective because genital herpes only require skin-to-skin contact to spread, so the areas that the condom does not cover are still susceptible. Using condoms consistently will diminish your risk of transmitting herpes to your partner.
Over time, couples in monogamous relationships may decide to forego the condom entirely. There’s nothing unreasonable about that at all, and it all depends on your comfort level in the relationship. As your relationship progresses, talk to your partner so you can make a choice that works for you both.
4. Try Medication
Talk to your doctor about an antiviral medication to suppress the virus. Suppressive therapy is the use of prescription Valtrex on a daily basis, whether an outbreak is present or not. Whereas Valtrex is commonly used to stop an outbreak as it is happening, it can also be used daily to prevent outbreaks to begin with. Studies show that it can reduce the viral shedding periods so much that transmission rates drop by 50%.
Other common antivirals for herpes are acyclovir (also spelled aciclovir) and Zovirax. Acyclovir is cheaper, but requires you to take more capsules at a time. With Valtrex, you only need to take one pill a day for the purpose of suppressive therapy.
5. Limit the number of sexual partners
By having sex with a non-infected partner who has sex only with you (mutual monogamy) you are greatly decreasing the chance of spreading the herpes virus to other people.
This does not mean that you have to be with the same person for the rest of your life, it simply means that by being faithful to the one person while you are with them, you are making a responsible choice which can reduce transmission.
Oral Sex and Herpes
HSV-1 is usually associated with oral herpes, but it can also spread to the genitals through oral sex. The same goes for not performing oral sex while a cold sore is present. You might also wish to use a condom or dental dam.
A dental dam is a latex barrier that can be placed over the vulva/vagina (and anal area if involved) to prevent skin-to-skin contact during oral sex.
HSV-2, which is usually genital herpes, can also spread to the oral region, but it’s not as likely. It is possible, but rare, since HSV-2 doesn’t like the oral environment. In fact, only 3% of oral herpes outbreaks are from HSV-2.
You CAN significantly reduce your risk of transmitting HSV-1 or HSV-2 to your partner, even when you are having no outbreaks. If you take all of these precautions, you might, in fact, be a safer partner than someone who has not been tested recently for STD’s and is taking no particular precautions.
parts of your partner’s body which have the sores which you need to avoid. You can still cuddle, share a bed, or kiss.