Hi everyone,
First of all, I’m sorry if my English isn’t perfect, it’s not my first language.
Last week I learned that my boyfriend (25 ) has genital herpes. His story is very bizarre, so I would like to have your opinion.
When he was 14, he noticed a pimple on his genitals. After cultures of the lesion, he was diagnosed with herpes. He then mentions to the doctor that he is free from any sexual contact (oral and penetration). So he doesn’t understand how he could have caught this. The doctor tells him that it is probably by touching his mouth and then his penis. However, he never really noticed having cold sores in his mouth. So she tells him to protect himself when he sees lesions, and lets him go.
By pure chance, he stumbled upon information on herpes this week mentioning the importance of always protecting yourself even when you are asymptomatic, that you can be contagious even without lesions. My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years and have always used a condom. He has never had another outbreak of herpes since his diagnosis more than 10 years ago. He is still very worried about having transmitted it to me and does not know how to act for the next sexual relations.
It is important to note that I have inflammatory bowel disease which requires me to take immunosuppressive medications. These therefore make me more at risk of complications when I have an infection.
Could a culture test be a false positive considering he was a virgin at the time?
What are the precautions we can take to prevent me from catching it knowing that his last outbreak was 10 years ago ? (he only had one outbreak and it was the one that led to his diagnosis)
Thank you very much