Dating someone with herpes virus

Can I date if I have herpes?

People who have active herpes can start dating and engaging in sexual contact once they have been treated and recovered (after at least 7 days after the rash goes away), but it is important that they are honest with their partners. Using condoms may reduce the risk of herpes transmission but will not eliminate the risk completely.

Can your partner get herpes if you have herpes?

You never know—your partner may divulge he or she also has herpes. And if they have the same type of the virus as you, they can’t get “reinfected,” Dr. Baldwin says. (The herpes virus stays in a person’s body even after symptoms have subsided.) You could start the conversation by mentioning cold sores, then move into the subject of genital herpes.

How do you get herpes?

Herpes is contracted through skin-to-skin contact and through sexual contact, including oral, anal, and vaginal. It’s most contagious during an outbreak (when there are visible sores), but HSV can shed viruses when a person is asymptomatic as well.

Should you let herpes end your relationship?

People are not defined by their sexually transmitted infections and neither are relationships. If what you have with that person is something special, then letting herpes end it is something you’ll regret. The reason: it’s just so incredibly possible to be dating, or living with, or married to someone who has herpes.