I have a question about handwashing. I haven't yet been tested to see if the symptoms I have are herpes (Thanksgiving holiday) but whether I'm in the house or out in public I try to observe good personal hygiene. I went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving and I took great care each time going to use the restroom...I padded the toilet seat with paper and tried to pull up my pants using balled fists instead of my fingertips. When I went to wash my hands, there was a very very small amount of soap solution left in the bottle and it came out as bubbles. I hammered that pump for as many bubbles as I could to make my hands soapy and scrubbed my hands for thirty seconds before I rinsed. But I still didn't feel comfortable that my hands were clean when I turned off the faucets so I went back with a piece of toilet paper and pumped for some more bubbles and did my best to wash off the faucet handles. I've heard that herpes dies shortly after air contact but...I'm wondering about if it dies on surfaces. This friend of mine is relatively new and I just met her family so I didn't know whether telling them was a good idea. Please help.

Hi Lotsofqqs,

You sound like you're feeling really bent out of shape by the fear that you have herpes. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif Let me start by saying it's not nearly as bad as you are imagining!

First of all, if you think you have herpes, DO get tested. You're just stressing yourself out if you're walking around wondering and not knowing. If you're getting blisters, get your doc to do a swab test on them as soon as they appear, ideally in the first 24-48 hours.

If you've had symptoms for more than 3-4 months, get a blood test done, which will tell you if you have it. A blood test won't tell you where you have it but the symptoms will be a good guess. Be sure it's a type-specific blood test.

Second, assuming you do have herpes, you don't need to take such extreme precautions as you're doing. The chances of catching it from a toilet seat are astronomical, since herpes virus does indeed die almost instantly once the air hits it. To catch it from a toilet seat, someone would have to sit down on it immediately after the person with herpes...AND there would have to be viral shedding where the person's skin contacted the seat...AND there would need to be a wet patch on the seat in which the herpes virus survived...AND the virus would have to come in contact with a break in the second person's skin at that specific location. So you really don't need to put paper on the toilet seat like that.

Same goes for the faucets. If you know your hands have come in direct contact with an active OB site, and you don't feel confident of your washing (like no soap), you might just give the faucets a quick dry off so they don't retain the water, but even that may be more than you ned to do.

If you have an active blister on your hands, then you might want to make sure the faucets are dry after you use them and carry some paper towels to dry your hands with. The herpes virus can survive for a short while in a damp towel, but unless the towel comes in contact with your OB area, it's unlikely it will get on the towel. If you have an OB on your hands, it might be an idea to use extra caution and just carry paper towels with you...and avoid shaking hands.

I think most people on this board, including me, knows intimately how it can affect you psychologically having the virus. It's so easy to feel dirty, unclean, icky, but it's not as bad as how we feel about it. It takes some getting used to, but eventually we learn that we're still good, worthy, wonderful people who happen to have a medical condition that requires some extra attention.

It would really help for you to do a lot of reading about herpes to learn the facts. Even if it turns out that you don't have it, I suspect this experience could leave you worried about using faucets and toilet seats that other people have touched. The risk of doing that is so small that you'd really be wasting your energy worrying about it.

Do some reading on websites, starting with the sites listed in this Board's "Resource Links." (Look in the blue bar at the top of the discussion topics list.) A great book is "The Truth About Herpes" by Dr. Stephen Sacks.

Until you know the facts, both generally and for yourself, you might want to avoid announcing it to the world. It's very kind and conscientious of you to want to protect people by making sure they're informed of a potential risk, but I think you'll feel better about being around people once you know the facts. If it turns out you have it, give yourself some time to decide who you're comfortable telling.

Take a deep breath and relax. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Let us know how you make out.

TheOneInFour