Herpes

“Herpes” is a viral sexually-transmitted disease caused by several different viruses in a family called “herpes.” Its symptom is the appearance of blisters and sores; these sores usually heal without scarring, but reoccur in the same place periodically. There is no cure for herpes, but with treatment, the outbreaks of sores will be less frequent and a person will be less likely to give herpes to other people.
symptoms
Herpes sores can appear anywhere on the skin, but they almost always appear on the genitals or mouth. The sores can cause discomfort, but the amount of pain they cause varies from too little to notice to annoying pain from person to person. The sores go away within ten days, and occur 2-6 times a year thereafter.

In many people, the sores are not visible, but they still are there and they shed the virus. Almost all people who have herpes do not know that they have herpes because their symptoms are mild, but these people can still give herpes to others, even when they do not have visible sores. If a particular person has a mild case of herpes, and he gives herpes to another person, there is no way to predict whether the newly infected person will have mild or severe herpes.

A pregnant mother can pass herpes to her baby during childbirth, and herpes acquired in this way is likely to result in the death of the baby within a few years.
spread
The sores spread when another part of the body, either one’s own body or someone else’s, touch an existing sore. So if a person has a sore on his mouth, and he kisses someone, then the sore will spread mouth-to-mouth. If people have oral sex, and one of them has herpes, then the sores can spread mouth-to-genitals or genitals-to-mouth. Most commonly, the sores spread genitals-to-genitals.

Doctors make a distinction between the two most common herpes viruses – herpes simplex virus 1, also called oral herpes and HSV1; and herpes simplex virus 2, also called genital herpes and HSV2. There is no practical difference between these two. They look the same, even though they infect the body in different ways are different organisms. Confusingly, 30% of genital herpes infections are caused by oral herpes, but genital herpes almost never spreads to the mouth. However, a person can have oral herpes on their genitals, and then if someone performs oral sex on that person, then the oral herpes will transfer from genitals to mouth. Anyone who does not have medical advise about the specific type of herpes that a person has should just assume that the herpes is transmissible, because it is difficult to determine the nature of a herpes infection without medical tests.

Herpes is extremely easy to spread, and because it lasts for life, a lot of people have it. Herpes outbreaks happen periodically. During an outbreak, lesions will appear on the infected person. At this time, the infected person is especially infectious to other people.

Incidence of herpes infection varies by region, but in America half of the people who are fifty years old have herpes.

Persons with herpes are at greatly increased risk for both contracting and spreading HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Having any other STD greatly increases the risk of contracting herpes.
treatment
There is no cure for herpes. Antiviral medications are moderately expensive and can have bothersome side effects. The use of medication reduces the frequency of herpes outbreaks and reduces the chance that herpes will be spread by the infected person. Herpes is a nuisance disease – it is not fatal, and it is just a lifelong bother.

Condoms are an inexpensive way to reduce the risk of spreading herpes, however, because infections can occur in many more places than a condom covers, couples should recognize the need to evaluate the specifics of their situation.

A pregnant woman should seek medical advice to lower the likelihood of transmitting the virus to her baby during childbirth.