Hi Queen,

I'm glad you asked.

Herpes needs skin to skin contact to transfer.  Period.

Now the exceptions:  The virus is very fragile and will be destroyed soon
after being removed from its home environment.  The right conditions that
will keep the virus alive are warm & moist.  But we really don't know how
long the virus will live that way.  Minutes?  Hours?  Seconds?

No, herpes virus won't survive on your toothbrush.  Nor will it survive on a
toilet seat.  Can you pass it by sharing a towel?  Whenever you ponder these
questions, just remember that good hygiene rules must always apply.  So, you
have genital herpes and you are currently contagious so you take a towel and
rub it on your genital area; you then immediately pass it to your sister and
she uses it on her genital area or oral area or anywhere on her body.  Is
this something you would actually do?  If your sister wipes her hands on
your shower towel half an hour after you use it, then I doubt she could get
herpes from it.  Same thing goes with a toothbrush.  Would you brush your
teeth while having a cold sore and then immediately pass your toothbrush on
to someone else to use?  No, of course not.  Besides, you shouldn't share
toothbrushes anyway.

Other ways that herpes is spread is through other types of touching.  Herpes
Whitlow is when you are infected on your hands.  Herpes
Gladiator....something or other, is what wrestlers get.  They tend to be
infected on the torso.  More than likely from coming in contact with someone
who is orally contagious at the time they are wrestling them.

Soap and hot water kill the virus.  Period.  You don't need anything else.
So, no, you can't get herpes from sharing a bar of soap.

You are contagious anytime you are shedding the virus.  If you are shedding
a lot of virus, then you'll have an outbreak.  If you are shedding only a
small amount of virus, then you will have asymptomatic shedding.  You won't
know you are contagious.  This happens fewer and fewer times the longer you
have herpes.  You can take the antiviral meds daily to cut down on
asymptomatic shedding.

Take care
ar

Pay no attention to the goof ball posting from behind the beer name.

There is no evidence that herpes is spread via inanimate objects.

There is a big difference between claiming that traces of the virus
can be found in controlled laboratory conditions, and positing that
toothbrushes and towels are risk sources for new infections.

If you WANTED to, you probably COULD transfer a new infection via an
inanimate object, but you would almost have to purposely try to do
it.  The herpes virus just isn't built to withstand the environment
outside the body, but it doesn't quite "die" instantaneously,
either.  That's why, especially during your first or Primary
outbreak, you shouldn't rub one of the sores and then, say, stick
that finger in your eye.  Nor should you immediately rub that finger
on someone else.  Neither should you take your toothbrush out of
your mouth and stick it in someone else's mouth.  However, if you
rinse your brush, and don't keep your bathroom at 98 degrees and 90%
humidity, there's probably not a significant amount of virus left on
it an hour later.  Etc.

Here's what Dr Stephen Sacks says in "The Truth About Herpes", one
of the most authoritative sources around:

"Direct contact is required in order to contract herpes--not
necessarily sexual contact.  If your child's skin touches your
herpes, then of course it can be spread."

[...]

"Objects that pass quickly from one person to another are,
theoretically, a possible source of transmission as well.  For
example, if you share a drinking cup or cigarette while you have a
cold sore, transmission is possible.  This is almost certainly a
significant source of transmission in families.  How about lipstick
sharing?  You bet.  I often wonder how cosmetic counters allow
multiple lipstick testers.  Probably, this is not a bigger problem
because of the time between customers and whatever little magic the
salesperson performs with the cloth.  How about bath towels and
genital herpes, though?  Yes, I would suggest not sharing towels
with others while lesions are active.  That would logically go for
underwear and other intimate articles.  I am willing to wager,
however, that fewer people share underwear than lipstick.  For a lot
of reasons not related to herpes, we do not tend to share things
quickly from one person to another that involve intimate touching of
genital skin in both persons.  Furthermore, washing towels and other
articles with plain soap dissolves the herpes envelope and kills the
virus effectively.  There is no need to use special disinfectants or
virus killers.  I have not seen any good evidence that sharing of
bath articles has ever caused one case of herpes.  But why risk it?
Not sharing bath articles seems a small price to pay!  Despite lots
of headlines about towels, toilet seats, articles in doctor's
offices, and even hot tubs and water slides, no evidence for
transmission in these ways has been found.  The best evidence is
that children are not flocking to physicians with genital herpes."

Dr Sacks then devotes a few paragraphs to toilet seats (sorry, Perl,
no transmission there, either), but the important thing is the last
sentence above.  If inanimate objects played a part in transmission
there would be evidence of it, and there just plain isn't.

It should further be said that people shouldn't share towels and
toothbrushes for all kinds of reasons, not just out of fear of
herpes.  Bathrooms and kitchens (for that matter) are huge
playgrounds for all kinds of nasty critters, and it is common sense
as well as common courtesy to minimize the opportunities for
spreading things around.  I think it makes good sense to change
one's toothbrush on a monthly or oftener basis, and I change my
kitchen sponge even oftener than that.

As far as herpes goes, you're more likely to pass herpes along by
giving a little kiss to someone than by handing them your towel.

Hope that helps.

Mike