What did your parent do to you as a kid...

public bathrooms we have no idea what people could be doing in there

Bad luck Brian

how does that work?

It's very unlikely that you would get genital herpes from a toilet seat. Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) spread by skin-to-skin contact. In most cases, the virus enters your body through mucous membranes — the type of skin found in your mouth, genitals or anus. The virus can also enter your body through skin that has tiny scrapes or tears. People can have genital herpes for years without knowing it. The virus can be spread even if an infected person has no genital sores. Because the virus dies quickly outside of the body, it's nearly impossible to get the infection through contact with toilets, towels or other objects used by an infected person.

not to worry, it is something you are born with. if you occasionally get cold sores or get a cold sore out of the blue it means you have the herpes virus, its just something you're born with or develope over time

Those saying you can get it from parents are technically correct. It is very rare with about 1500 cases worldwide per year. Think of how many babies are born per year. it will also become evident within the first week or two of birth. Therefore, if it was contracted this way, OP (or their parents) would already be aware of this.

Follow up please. I would very much like to know what your doctor said caused it, if that's ok.

You are patient 0..

This is a much more interesting take on the Virgin Mary.