Confused about hsv 1 and hsv 2. Please help!

Thanks fir replying :-)

Yes he has it now both on his mouth and on his genitals. The nurse at the clinic also said he could be even given it to himel by touching a cold sore and then touching his penis

Cold sores can also be type 2. If you got HSV from his cold sore, you'd have whatever type he has.

Cold sores can be caused by Type 2, but it is uncommon.

Two different but related viruses. The number simply indicates the virus type, not the site of infection. Both types can infect either site (oral, genital), but HSV-2 (Type 2) is uncommon orally, being nearly always genital. HSV-1 (Type 1) is mostly oral, but increasingly genital. Type 1 is less fussy where it infects, unlike Type 2, which is more particular.

The severity of outbreaks has a lot more to do with your body's immune system and genetic makeup than the HSV type or strain. Genital Type 2 is more frequently recurring than genital Type 1 on average, however, and is considered the worst of the two types to have down below (frequency, shedding, infectiousness, risks, stigma). Outbreaks can be mild, though. It really varies from person to person.

P.S. Genital Type 1 rarely recurs, maybe just once a year, except in a small percentage of unfortunate individuals. You more than likely have that, since the source for you was oral cold sores (nearly always Type 1).

Oh, that's not so good! Sorry to hear it. And, no, as mentioned several times already(!), Type 2 is rarely oral. It's much more likely that you got Type 2 from him by just having sexual intercourse. He very likely has Type 2 genitally.

How do you know he never had it genitally? Did he test negative specifically for Type 2 IgG right before you? If not, nobody can say he was negative. Lack of obvious or recognised symptoms means nothing when it comes to herpes. Were you ever tested for Type 2 IgG yourself before this?

Not only is Type 2 uncommon orally, but it is even more uncommon to *only* have it orally. Most people with oral Type 2 also have it genitally, usually acquired from the same encounter. So, the odds that your bf only had Type 2 orally are extremely unlikely. If it didn't come from you, then he had it genitally and didn't know it or failed to recognise the symptoms, etc.

Even if he miraculously only had oral Type 2, once he's had it for 4+ months, he should be protected from acquiring new Type 2 or Type 1 infections anywhere. The protective qualities are strong with Type 2.

P.S. I suspect that either you or your bf had it genitally all along and that the person with it had prodrome signs or an early recurrence and sex (big no-no), thus giving it to the other. The outbreaks were practically simultaneous, because symptoms from new infections can develop as soon as 1-2 days, so while the recurrence was developing in the source partner, then boom, both of you are having outbreaks at the same time. The oral cut he had at the time was irrelevant. Oral Type 2 rarely ever recurs and only sheds on something like ~2% of days, which is ridiculously low.