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> can even be spread via saliva.

While possible, is extremely unlikely. For it to be spread by saliva a) the saliva of the infected person would have to contain blood (e.g. bleeding gums) b) come into contact with an open wound in the other person (also has a cut or cold sore etc)

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Not extremely unlikely given that most saliva swapping likely goes on between partners who kiss on a daily basis and hence are extremely likely to have at least one interaction where both parties have a combination of cuts, bleeding gums, cold sores or similar.

It's complicated. The level of infectiousness to others varies depending on the state of the virus in the person who carries it. People with a chronic infection (long term) typically have low level infectivity. So it would be a very unlikely combination of factors coming together for transmission to occur that way.

It's still 50x-100x more infectious than HIV, because of the very high concentrations of it in bodily fluids. This combined with its very long lived potency out of the body makes for much easier infection.

In theory, you could drink from a glass and leave the virus in saliva on the rim. If nobody cleans the glass, and five days later someone with bleeding gums drinks out of it, it's still infectious.

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