My roomie had an
open sore on her mouth, and never bothered telling me about it until AFTER we shared a fork, lipstick and toothpaste!
A lot of it is my own stupidity. My own blindly trusting belief that no one will give me any diseases when I share personal items with them. I figure if there's anything bad that gets passed to me, my stomach acids will kill the germs since I don't have any open mouth sores. Silly me...
Why is it so socially acceptable to have oral HSV-1 caused herpes? One type of herpes is "just a cold sore" and the other is a social stigma. People tend to think: doesn't everyone have mouth sores/fever blisters every once in a while? Don't people realize that HSV-1 and HSV-2 -- the kind that usually causes genital herpes are extremely similar and can grow in both environments hmm? Specialists have speculated that up to 30% of genital herpes are a result of oral to genital contact and caused by HSV-1. Although HSV-1 caused genital herpes is mild in comparison to HSV-2, it's nothing to brush off lightly. This "good virus" vs "bad virus" mentality is wrong. Both types of virus are capable of causing open sores in the oral cavity and in the genital area, although HSV-1 prefers to hide in the upper body and HSV-2 prefers to hide in the lower half.
Now I'm scared to have oral sex with my boyfriend. At times herpes may still be contagious when you don't have a sore. What if I give him HSV-1 genital herpes? What if he has vaginal sex with me and gives me HSV-1 genital herpes? ARG!
Moral of the story: pay attention to personal hygiene and don't share personal items with ANYONE you don't tongue kiss every day. Don't even trust your sister!