Hello again everybody.  Haven't been on the site for a while - and the
nice man I had connected with last summer who researched so much about
HSV wound up dropping out of sight for reasons unknown - in case
anybody remembers - or cares! lol

I have decided to start a sexual health thread in the Forums on
plentyoffish.com after being told by another member that those of us
with HSV should only date one another!  There are a whole lot of laws
against saying only [insert oppressed minority here] should date
amongst themselves but I guess the cold sore lobby doesn't have much
of a voice - yet?

Just to clarify, in my earlier posts when I was emphasizing how
similar HSV 1 & 2 are my focus has always been on the lack of stigma
around facial cold sores versus the ridiculous stigma about cold sores
"south of the equator". ( when I was first diagnosed, it seems like I
had an outbreak every time I said the word "herpes" out loud; when I
started to refer to it as "tropical cold sores" the outbreaks became
less frequent)

I lost my copy of one of the best books about herpes - by a Canadian
doctor in B.C. - when I moved so I don't have access to the most
recent figures - from REPUTABLE researchers - about how rare it is to
have asymptomatic viral shedding years & years after the initial
outbreak.  As I recall the risk goes down pretty much exponentially -
but you'd never know that if you listen to those [expletive deleted]
ads for Valtrex!

I know that an initial outbreak of genital herpes can have
debilitating effects on a newborn - I believe it's called neonatal
herpes? - but in this day & age I would imagine that's very rare.  Not
sure if they do c-sections of if expectant moms are put on antivirals
- either way as long as babies are healthy that's all the matters (is
that what the eyedrops given to newborns are for? I forget it's been
so long since I had one!)

It is also my understanding that the complications of HSV1, while
rare, are actually much more severe.  Encephalitis comes to mind - not
sure of others off the top of my head.  Does the virus ever actually
travel "the wrong way" from the basal ganglia - do I have my ganglia
right?

One of the sites on the web, purporting to educate people, suggests
the virus can be transmitted by mutual masturbation.  While I suppose
this could happen in very rare cases, if an open sore on the genitals
contacted an open sore on the finger producing herpes whitlow (sp?)
but I know that I've read the virus is easily killed with soap and
water.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what information you would like to
see about this virus on the largest free dating site in the world -
even if it means I never get another date! lmao

Thanks.