How does someone become infected by herpes simplex?

How does someone become infected by herpes simplex?

You can get infected with the herpes simplex virus by exposure to the virus; through small, microscopic breaks or cuts in the skin that you weren't even aware of. In particular with genital herpes, we think that most of that transmission, or that a lot of that transmission is even in the absence of an active virus. At one point in time we felt it might be safe to have sexual contact when you had no active lesion; that it was unlikely that you would pass on that infection. Now we know that the viral shed rate is quite high and often that infection is passed on when the patient has no symptoms at the time of contact.