There has been a lot of studies done with discordant couples which means one partner has genital herpes and the other does not. These studies confirmed that using condoms does reduce the transmission of herpes significantly. If you are someone who already has cold sores, then you have the antibodies to herpes already within your body and are much less likely to get another type of herpes. If you receive oral sex from a person who carries the herpes around their mouth ( cold sores or no outbreaks) then herpes does transmit very well from the mouth to the genital area. For more information about herpes please see https://smartsexresource.com/topics/herpes-simplex-virus-genital-herpes