re: roel's post Herpes outbreaks are not necessarily apparent visually, which is true for both hsv-1 AND hsv-2 ("genital herpes"). The only way to really know

re: roel's post Herpes outbreaks are not necessarily apparent visually, which is true for both hsv-1 AND hsv-2 ("genital herpes"). The only way to really know if you are infected is to get tested during an outbreak, which is not always easy to do as outbreaks do not always correspond to visual cues. So you either need to trust the person you're intimating with or you need to take precautions, which also don't always prevent infection. Condoms reduce the transmission rate, for example, but don't preclude transmission to areas of the body not covered by the condom.