Can you get genital herpes type 1 if you already carry it orally?

[Thomthom12]

My question is, if I have oral herpes ( type 1) can I also get type 1 genital herpes?

[markh57]

No, or at least it would be very rare indeed

If you have oral HSV1 your immune system will have built up immunity to it. Unfortunately this wont be enough to clear it from from the original site (lips) but it will prevent you from being re-infected at another site (genitals).

You wont have any protection from HSV2 though

[Thomthom12 in reply to markh57]

Thank you mark for replying, i got told it’s still possible to infect type 1 to genitals even if they have oral herpes. I’m also wondering what the transmission rate is to get genital herpes from saliva with no active cold sore?

[markh57 in reply to Thomthom12]

" i got told it’s still possible to infect type 1 to genitals even if they have oral herpes"

The only risk would be if the oral Herpes was caused by HSV2 rather than the usual HSV1 There's no cross immunity between the two strains. That's why its important to get to know which type you have.