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Genital herpes

How much do condoms actually reduce the risk?

Reading around, the answer seems to be somewhere between quite a lot and not much, depending on who wrote the page.

plain_paper 4 months ago
NoteMember experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.

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salt_marsh 4 months ago

They reduce it meaningfully but not to near zero, and the reason is geometry. Herpes transmits from skin, and a condom covers some of the skin involved and not all of it.

Studies of couples generally find a substantial reduction with consistent use rather than the near total protection people associate with condoms for other infections.

wool_coat 4 months ago

Stacking things is the practical answer. Condoms, plus suppressive treatment, plus no sex during prodrome or an outbreak. Each one reduces risk and together they get it quite low.

low_tide 4 months ago

The part people skip is the prodrome rule. Shedding is highest around symptoms, so the days either side of an outbreak are where most of the risk sits.

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