Do herpes outbreaks usually spread from one spot to another on a person?
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at
7:01 pm
I found out I have herpes in March and usually experience two small sores near my vagina during an outbreak. But today I noticed a small sore in a different place.
Is it possible to begin getting sores in different places? Or is it more likely that I just didn’t notice this sore before?
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Technically, when you have genital herpes a herpes outbreak can occur anywhere covered by a pair of boxer shorts.
It is normal for outbreaks to move around the general area, even by several inches. I rarely get an outbreak in the same place – I’ve had them right near the front and right round the back, on the labia and the vagina entrance. I never know where I am going to get one. This is pretty common – just like a person with cold sores can get one anywhere on the lips or even on the chin or nostrils.
It does NOT mean you have spread the virus – just that all this area is served by the same nerve where your herpes is lying dormant.
Direct skin-to-skin contact can spread herpes. This includes touching, kissing, and sexual contact (vaginal, anal, penile, and oral). Moist areas of the mouth, throat, anus, vulva, vagina, and the eyes are very easily infected. Herpes can be passed from one partner to another, or from one part of your own body to another part. If one partner has oral cold sores, he/she can pass on the virus during oral sex and cause genital herpes. Herpes is most easily spread when there are open sores. It can also be spread before the blisters actually form. It is very unlikely that herpes is spread by toilet seats, swimming pools, bathtubs, whirlpools, or moist towels. An infected mother can pass the virus to her baby during or after childbirth. Women who acquire the infection for the first time close to the time of delivery are particularly likely to pass the virus to their baby. Pregnant women should always let their doctor know if they have had herpes or been exposed to herpes.
Yes, and no.
If you have genital herpes, the sores can occur pretty much anywhere in your whole genital region – anywhere that a pair of boxer shorts would cover. With that said, most herpes outbreaks tend to occur in almost exactly the same place every time. So if your sores usually occurred on your left labia (lets just say) and suddenly the next outbreak causes sores near your anus – the virus hasn’t "moved." It’s all genital herpes, all caused by the same infection.
When you FIRST get herpes, it is possible to re-infect yourself elsewhere on your body. So if you had oral herpes, and you touched a sore, and then immediately touched your genitals (or eye), you could give yourself an infection of the same virus on another part of your body. Once several months have passed, and your body has built up antibodies to your strain of the virus, this is MUCH less likely. Some docs even say that it is impossible.
So I don’t know what the "other place" is that you’ve just now noticed a sore. If its on a completely different part of your body, then it either isn’t herpes, or you likely infected yourself a long time ago and just didn’t realize it. If its on your genitals, in general, then its just another outbreak of your genital herpes, just on a different part of your genitals.