[good times]

I have read everything I could get my hands on on the subject and one thing is pretty clear, I don't think anyone can tell you what the real percentage of infected people is.

As far as testing goes, you can get both a false negative and a semi-false positive for HSV. What I mean by "semi-false positive" is, the blood tests done to detect HSV can only prove you have been exposed to it, it can't tell you if you are infected or not. It is possible to be exposed to it and have antibodies in your system, but not be infected in the sense that you could have an outbreak or pass it on to someone else, from what I understand. This is the reason why the medical community is so reluctant to test for it, the tests don't really mean anything. That is probably also the reason why nobody really knows how many people are actually infected.

Another thing to keep in mind, while a couple of studies have supposedly shown that it is possible to asymptomatically shed the virus, in other words to infect someone while showing no symptoms yourself. The general consensus among researchers is that this is either not possible or extremely rare. Most believe that shedding of the virus occurs from a couple of hours before obvious symptoms of an outbreak occurs, until healing of the outbreak is past the scabbing stage. In those cases, it is believed that the person suffering the outbreak can tell he/she has an impending outbreak before he/she actually starts shedding the virus, as it is said that he/she will experience what is most often described as a tingling or itching sensation in the area where the outbreak will occur well before shedding starts.

Keep in mind that in most of the studies that the claim is made that asymptomatic shedding is possible, that conclusion was based on interviewing the subjects and asking them if they saw any signs of Herpes. I don't think this is a very reliable method myself, as I have seen people at clubs before with cold sores on their lips and was surprised how few other people even noticed it. That is why I am a big advocate for oral sex as foreplay, (alright, I admit it, that isn't the only reason) it gives someone who knows what to look for a chance to check the other person out for the visual signs of HSV before actually touching genitals.

Finally, my personal feeling is that if HSV was as prevalent and as easy to contract as most of these so called "informational" reports would indicate, a lot more of us would have active Herpes than seems to be the case. The fact is, if the numbers were even close to being what is commonly thrown around on the internet, my wife and I should be infected, yet we are not. Why is that? My feeling is that either not as many folks are infected or actively shedding the virus as is often estimated, or it is much harder to transfer and contract the virus than is implied, or swingers are just a lot luckier than the average population. Whatever the reason, I for one, have decided while I will be educated and observant with potential play partners in order to avoid contact with it, I am not going to lose a lot of sleep worrying about it.

Also keep in mind that it is rare for someone to have a severe case of herpes, enough to have more than a couple outbreaks a year. In other words, odds are pretty good that if you happened to play with someone who has herpes, it is a pretty good chance they would not be shedding the virus when you were playing with them, and therefore, you would not be at risk.