Genital Herpes - Have You Got This Dreaded Disease?

Statistically, there's an excellent chance that you do not have genital herpes. However, whether you have another type of herpes or not is a different story altogether.

Here are the facts: The Center for Disease Control estimates that 90% of the population of the United States has one form of herpes or another.

Nationwide, at least 45 million men, women and children age 12 and older, or one out of five adolescents and adults, have genital herpes. The vast majority of genital herpes victims are totally unaware that they have the disease because most of them are asymptomatic. In other words, they have no noticeable symptoms whatsoever. The only way you can be certain that you are disease free, is if you've:
Never kissed anyone. Never indulged in heavy petting below the waist. Never had sex!
Can Genital Herpes be Cured?

The answer is no. Herpes cannot be cured... (yet). Once you contract herpes simplex, it's with you for life. There are two major types of herpes simplex virus:

HSV-1 (usually referred to as oral herpes or cold sores). HSV-2 (usually referred to as genital herpes).

However, they are not site specific. This means that you can contract HSV-1 on the genitals and HSV-2 can appear on the face and mouth.

If you do have symptoms and experience the occasional outbreak from either variety, once the outbreak passes, herpes goes into remission. In other words, it becomes latent, but it's always there, lurking in your nervous system and ready to infect someone else. If you have visible signs or sores, the virus is active. To complicate matters further, even without visible symptoms, you never know when the virus is replicating itself and therefore in its 'shedding' stage.

There is some good news.

Antiviral therapy can ease symptoms, lower the risk of infecting others and sometimes prevent outbreaks altogether. Typically the frequency and severity of outbreaks diminish and sometimes disappear altogether, over the years. Apart from antiviral therapy, there are various other forms of treatment that can improve your quality of life by reducing or eliminating symptoms.
Here's some more good news:

As a result of a primary infection, the body produces antibodies to the particular type of HSV involved. For example, if you have oral herpes brought about by the HSV-1 virus, due to a process known as seroconversion, six weeks after the primary infection you cannot contract an additional form of HSV-1 herpes on another part of your body.

This applies to genital HSV-1 as well as many of the lesser known types such as herpetic whitlow, herpes gladiatorum, etc. These antibodies also give you a certain measure of immunity against all forms of Herpesviridae, which makes it harder to contract another type of herpes including the HSV-2 genital variety.

Now for the bad news:

If you have herpes, you will inevitably pass it on to someone else -- friends, family, children, spouses or lovers. This is because herpes is transmitted from one person to another via skin-to-skin contact or by the exchange of body fluids.

Can you avoid passing it on?

You be the judge:

With oral herpes, during the active or shedding stage, a quick peck on the lips is all it takes. As for sex, well you already know the answer to that one. However even though skin-to-skin contact of the lower body can trigger transmission, the use of a barrier such as a latex condom or a dental dam will reduce the chances of that happening.
Which Type is Most Common - HSV1 or HSV2?

HSV-1 appears to be more prolific, however, until recent times, the two types were clearly delineated. If you had herpes, you either occasionally developed cold sores, or you experienced outbreaks of pimples, blisters or lesions on the genitals, anus or surrounding area of your lower body.

However, with the passage of time, the boundaries between the two types are becoming less and less well defined. The reason? As mentioned above, genitals can be readily infected with oral herpes, and the mouth is susceptible to genital herpes. To speed things up, news is getting around via pornography, word-of-mouth and the publicity given to the joys and perils of oral and anal sex over the internet.

Let's be honest, people are sexually curious and some are more than willing to experiment with new techniques. Oral and to a lesser extent, anal sex, is rapidly becoming morally acceptable, with more and more couples embracing these practices. As a result, an increasing number are contracting the HSV1 variety on their genitals and the HSV2 variety on the mouth.

Can Herpes Kill You

As a general rule neither oral nor genital herpes are clinically dangerous or life threatening. However, if you take psychological factors into account, this disease can have debilitating, dangerous and sometimes even deadly side effects.

It doesn't end there; there are some other related diseases that should be taken into account:

Herpetic whitlow, (infection to the hands, fingers and fingertips). Herpes simplex keratitis (infection to the eyes that can cause blindness). Cerebral herpes infection or encephalitis. (Life threatening). Mollaret's meningitis. (Life threatening). Neonatal herpes. (Life threatening to newborn babies). And possibly Bell's palsy, bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's disease.

Apart from the psychological effects, the above mentioned are fairly rare maladies. Nevertheless, the herpes simplex virus causes them all.

Bottom line? If you are married, don't stray. If you're single, acquire and nurture one mutually monogamous relationship with someone you care for and who also has a herpes status matching your own.

Ian R Kelly draws his ideas both from research and from life's experiences. He has traveled extensively and gained valuable insights through working his way around the world. The subject of Natural Home Remedies fascinates him. Because of this, he gets a huge kick out of doing in-depth research, and then writing about his findings.

He is a prolific writer and webmaster, currently in the process of designing and developing his own information website: . He also builds historic man-o-war tall ship models for fun and profit. You can view his latest project at: