Can HSV2 Be Contracted Orally?

Posted on Sun, 1 Oct 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 Oct 2017 Answered on

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : Can HSV 2 contracted orally cause oral herpes? Can this then become genital herpes? Can oral acyclovir or valacyclovir PREVENT the oral herpes if given early enough after exposure in high enough doses?

Answered by Dr. Kathy Robinson (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
yes you can get oral outbreaks from HSV2

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
I will try to be clear on this confusing topic. HSV-1 us usually in the mouth area and HSV-2 is what we call genital herpes.
Oral HSV-1 tends to recur in the oral area as fever blisters.
Genital HSV-2 tends to recur as periodic outbreaks in the genital area.

It is possible to get HSV-1 in the genital area but it tends not to be recurrent there.
It is also possible to get HSV-2 in the oral area but again it tends not to be recurrent in that area. In these cases you would get an initial outbreak but usually not recurrent outbreaks.

Post-exposure prophylaxis (prevention after possible exposure) is possible. The standard dose for that is: 1 gram 3 times a day of valacyclovir for a week
Regards,
Dr. Robinson

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar