Navigating STI Disclosure After a Herpes Diagnosis: What to Know
Recently diagnosed with herpes? Navigating all of the never-ending question around timing and STI disclosure? Let’s chat about how this impacts your and your partners’ s-xual health!
You know you’ll need to inform current and future partners about your herpes diagnosis, but what about your past partners? Do you have to tell ALL of them?
When you’re first diagnosed with herpes, there are likely elements of fear, denial, as well as more questions than answers.
Questions like…
🧐Who did I get herpes from?
🧐How did they get herpes?
🧐When did I get it?
🧐How did I get it?
🧐Why did I get it?
The list goes on, and even these questions seem to have their own subset of questions.
Due to the nature of the herpes virus, as well as a lack of regular screening for herpes (PSA it’s most likely NOT included if you ask to be “tested for everything”), you won’t find definitive answers to many of these questions.
You know you need to tell current and future partners about your herpes status, but what about disclosing to your past partners?
For people with a more robust s-xual history, it could be challenging, overwhelming, and nearly impossible to contact every single s-x partner they’ve had across their life. Some may not even know their names or have their contact information.
The answer is, it depends. A good rule of thumb is to contact anyone you’ve had sexual contact within the last 12 months.
After learning about the herpes virus, some people may feel compelled or ethically obligated to reach out to ALL of their past partners. That’s okay, too.
What really matters is you’re thinking about these questions and how to protect your partners (which is a great step!) and learning when to take action.