Is it true that persons infected with herpes must use condoms the rest of their sexual lives?

I believe so because they can have outbreak anytime

1

No!! That is completely ridiculous. Do you think every person with oral herpes must put plastic over their mouth before they kiss anyone??? I have had genital herpes for 10 years and my husband of seven years and I have never used a condom and he still doesn't have herpes. I take valtrex daily and this cuts the risk of transmission to less than 1% per year. People are incredibly ignorant about herpes. I would only suggest condoms if you were sleeping with people you didn't know.....regardless if you have herpes or not that is good advice.

Not an easy question to answer. If they want to reduce the chances of passing it to a partner, then yes. If however, the couple wants to have children, then a regiment of daily suppressive medication and a close eye on prodrome signs (aka pre-signs, tingling, itchiness), you can reduce tranmission to around 4%, with meds and a condom it is less then 1% (provided no outbreaks). Do NOT have sex during outbreaks and prodrome times (called viral shedding) and if both partners are in agreement then you can have sex without condoms. But both partners must be aware of the fact that the chances of tranmission can occur, even with condoms, although condoms reduce the risk greatly, especially if no outbreaks are occuring.

There are no set rules.

W/O A CONDOM:

If the infected person does not have an outbreak, it is still possible, but not too probable.

If the person does have an outbreak, you have a nearly 100% chance you'll contract it.

WITH A CONDOM (keep in mind that condoms don't offer 100% protection):

If the infected person does not have an outbreak, it is still possible, but not too probable.

If the infected person does not have an outbreak, it is still possible, but not too probable.

Nope...Stop listening to people or you will end up dead.

"People"