Do Most People Have Herpes

Do Most People Have Herpes

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Genital Herpes – CDC Basic Fact Sheet
People who are sexually active can get genital herpes, a common sexually transmitted disease (STD). This fact sheet answers basic questions about genital herpes.

Genital Herpes - CDC Detailed Fact Sheet
Primary Prevention Methods (Condoms)

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Genital herpes is an STD caused by two types of viruses – herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2).
HSV-1 often causes oral herpes, which can result in cold sores or fever blisters on or around the mouth. However, most people with oral herpes do not have any symptoms. Most people with oral herpes get it during childhood or young adulthood from non-sexual contact with saliva.
Yes. Oral herpes caused by HSV-1 can spread from the mouth to the genitals through oral sex . This is why some cases of genital herpes are due to HSV-1.
Genital herpes is common in the United States. In 2018, CDC estimates show there were 572,000 new genital herpes infections in the United States among people aged 14 to 49. 1
You can get genital herpes by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the infection. You can get herpes if you have contact with:
You also can get genital herpes from a sex partner who does not have a visible sore or is unaware of their infection. It is also possible to get genital herpes if you receive oral sex from a partner with oral herpes.
You will not get herpes from toilet seats, bedding, or swimming pools. You also will not get it from touching objects, such as silverware, soap, or towels.
If you have more questions about herpes, consider discussing your concerns with a healthcare provider.
Most people with genital herpes have no symptoms or have very mild symptoms. Mild symptoms may go unnoticed or be mistaken for other skin conditions like a pimple or ingrown hair. Because of this, most people do not know they have a herpes infection.
Herpes sores usually appear as one or more blisters on or around the genitals, rectum or mouth. This is known as having an “outbreak”. The blisters break and leave painful sores that may take a week or more to heal. Flu-like symptoms (e.g., fever, body aches, or swollen glands) also may occur during the first outbreak.
People who experience an initial outbreak of herpes can have repeated outbreaks, especially if they have HSV-2. However, repeat outbreaks are usually shorter and less severe than the first outbreak. Although genital herpes is a lifelong infection, the number of outbreaks may decrease over time.
Ask a healthcare provider to examine you if:
STD symptoms can include an unusual sore, a smelly genital discharge, burning when peeing, or bleeding between periods (if you have a menstrual cycle).
Your healthcare provider may diagnose genital herpes by simply looking at any sores that are present. Providers can also take a sample from the sore(s) and test it. If sores are not present, a blood test may be used to look for HSV antibodies.
Have an honest and open talk with your healthcare provider about herpes testing and other STDs.
Please note: A herpes blood test can help determine if you have herpes infection. It cannot tell you who gave you the infection or when you got the infection.
The only way to completely avoid STDs is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
If you are sexually active, you can do the following things to lower your chances of getting genital herpes:
Be aware that not all herpes sores occur in areas that a condom can cover. Also, the skin can release the virus (shed) from areas that do not have a visible herpes sore. For these reasons, condoms may not fully protect you from getting herpes.
If your sex partner(s) has/have genital herpes, you can lower your risk of getting it if:
There is no cure for genital herpes. However, there are medicines that can prevent or shorten outbreaks. A daily anti-herpes medicine can make it less likely to pass the infection on to your sex partner(s).
Genital herpes can cause painful genital sores and can be severe in people with suppressed immune systems.
If you touch your sores or fluids from the sores, you may transfer herpes to another body part like your eyes. Do not touch the sores or fluids to avoid spreading herpes to another part of your body. If you do touch the sores or fluids, quickly wash your hands thoroughly to help avoid spreading the infection.
If you are pregnant, there can be problems for you and your unborn fetus, or newborn baby. See “ I’m pregnant. How could genital herpes affect my baby? ” for information about this.
If you are pregnant and have genital herpes, prenatal care visits are very important. Some research suggest that a genital herpes infection may lead to miscarriage or make it more likely to deliver your baby too early. You can pass herpes to your unborn child before birth, but it more commonly passes during delivery. This can lead to a deadly infection in your baby (called neonatal herpes). It is important that you avoid getting genital herpes during pregnancy. Tell your healthcare provider if you have ever had a genital herpes diagnosis or symptoms. Also tell them about any possible exposure to genital herpes.
If you have genital herpes, you may need to take anti-herpes medicine towards the end of your pregnancy. This medicine may reduce your risk of having signs or symptoms of genital herpes when you deliver. At the time of delivery, your healthcare provider should carefully examine you for herpes sores. If you have signs or symptoms of genital herpes at delivery, a ‘C-section’ is likely to occur.
If you have herpes, you should talk to your sex partner(s) about their risk. Using condoms may help lower this risk but it will not get rid of the risk completely. Having sores or other symptoms of herpes can increase your risk of spreading the disease. Even if you do not have any symptoms, you can still infect your sex partners.
You may have concerns about how genital herpes will impact your health, sex life, and relationships. While herpes is not curable, it is important to know that it is manageable with medicine. Daily suppressive therapy (i.e., daily use of antiviral medication) can lower your risk of spreading the virus to others. Talk to a healthcare provider about your concerns and treatment options.
A genital herpes diagnosis may affect how you will feel about current or future sexual relationships. Knowing how to talk to sexual partners about STDs is important.
Herpes infection can cause sores or breaks in the skin or lining of the mouth, vagina, and rectum. This provides a way for HIV to enter the body. Even without visible sores, herpes increases the number of immune cells in the lining of the genitals. HIV targets immune cells for entry into the body. Having both HIV and genital herpes increases the chance of spreading HIV to a HIV-negative partner during oral, vagina, or anal sex.
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The five important things that a person should know about herpes are as follows:
Its an oversimplification to say that HSV-1 causes oral herpes and HSV-2 causes genital herpes, though these are the easiest definitions of each.
HSV-1 is a subtype of the herpes virus that typically causes oral herpes. This is also known as cold sores.
HSV-1 can also cause genital blisters that appear very similar to the genital blisters associated with HSV-2 virus.
Any herpes sore or blister regardless of its subtype can burn, itch, or tingle.
The HSV-2 subtype of the herpes virus causes genital sores, as well as swollen lymph nodes, body aches, and fever.
Although HSV-2 can also cause sores on the face, its much less common than genital sores.
Its difficult to look at a herpes sore and determine whether it was caused by HSV-1 or HSV-2.
To make a diagnosis, a doctor or other healthcare provider would have to take a sample of fluid from a blister lesion or take a small sample of the skin lesion and send it to a lab for testing.
Theres also a blood test available.
It is always a shock to find out that what you had assumed was true simply is not. That is why clinical trials are so important to science. The unexpected results of a recent trial examining herpes and HIV demonstrates the importance of carrying out controlled trials to test preconceived beliefs.
Up to 90% of women with HIV infection in southern Africa also have genital herpes . Most people who are infected with HSV-2 do not know that they have the virus, which causes symptomatic genital sores and breaks in the skin but is frequently active without symptoms. Multiple studies had shown that infection with herpes was associated with an increased risk for HIV infection. However, whether treatment to suppress HSV-2 would decrease HIV transmission had not been tested.
The Partners in Prevention HSV/HIV Transmission Study, led by the University of Washington and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looked at whether the use of acyclovir, a drug widely used for the safe and effective suppression of HSV-2, by persons who are infected with both HSV-2 and HIV could reduce the likelihood that they would transmit HIV to their HIV-uninfected partners.
Herpes is a very common STI found among famous people with herpes. The Herpes simplex virus causes it.
Herpes is neither deadly nor causes any serious health issues. It causes some painful blisters, sores, and outbreaks at the site of infection. That is around the mouth or genitals, which for many people happen less over time and may eventually stop occurring completely.
Symptoms in herpes may develop 220 days after exposure to the virus. Symptoms include tingling, itching, burning, sores, or blisters forming around the mouth or genitals.
ORAL HERPES- Oral herpes causes blisters, also known as fever sores or cold sores. They are developed in or around the lips and mouth.
Sometimes these blisters tend to form on the tongue or somewhere else on the face. But rarely on any other areas of skin. The sores usually last 23 weeks at a time.
GENITAL HERPES- Genital herpes causes blisters/sores which develop on the penis, around or inside the vagina. They can also occur on the buttocks or the anus. However, they can form on other areas of the skin.
Herpes can also cause dysuria . It can also change vaginal discharge. When the first time sores appear, they may last 26 weeks. Soon after this initial outbreak, symptoms may recur frequently.
With time, outbreaks may occur less often, and the symptoms tend to become less severe.
It turns out that, medically speaking, genital herpes isnt usually a big deal at all. No one wants to have it, but at the same time, it is typically more of an inconvenience and a social nuisance than a serious medical problem. The social stigma, however, is something we should not underestimate. In my experience, I find that people truly fear a herpes diagnosis. It is the Scarlet Letter H. Surprisingly, even a new diagnosis of HIV often doesnt result in as much panic as a new diagnosis of genital herpes.
When people find out they have genital herpes, they often have a lot of questions about who gave it to them and how long theyve had it. This is where I regularly need to talk people down. A new diagnosis of herpes does not necessary mean a new infection. Like Susan, many people have genital herpes for years or even decades with mild or unrecognized symptoms. In fact, many people dont have symptoms at all. I like to explain to people that their current or most recent partner may not be the person from whom they contracted herpes.
Commonly, people get angry and assume a partner is cheating, and relationships end. Of course, you have to have a serious talk and confirm that your partner is monogamous, but if you believe your partner is loyal, you also have to consider that you or your partner might have had herpes for 5 years, 10 years, even 20 years without any awareness of the infection.
You can get genital herpes by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the disease.
If you do not have herpes, you can get infected if you come into contact with the herpes virus in:
You can get herpes from a sex partner who does not have a visible sore or who may not know he or she is infected. It is also possible to get genital herpes if you receive oral sex from a sex partner who has oral herpes.
You will not get herpes from toilet seats, bedding, or swimming pools, or from touching objects around you such as silverware, soap, or towels. If you have additional questions about how herpes is spread, consider discussing your concerns with a healthcare provider.
Genital herpes may cause painful genital ulcers that can be severe and persistent in persons with suppressed immune systems, such as HIV-infected persons. 5 Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 can also cause rare but serious complications such as aseptic meningitis . 5 Development of extragenital lesions may occur during the course of infection. 5
Pain and discomfort are the main health effects of genital herpes, but the virus can also cause emotional and social problems for those infected. Although it cannot be cured, genital herpes can be managed with antiviral medication that may help control the recurrences. On rare occasions, genital herpes may cause serious complications such as blindness and inflammation of the brain.
Genital herpes can sometimes be passed from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy or birth. The infection can be life-threatening to the child or result in skin lesions or brain damage. Antiviral medication and a cesarean delivery can reduce the risk of infecting the child.
The majority of herpes infections, of both HSV-1 and HSV-2, are asymptomatic. This means that you can be infected with the herpes virus and have viral DNA in your body without any visible symptoms.
People with asymptomatic herpes can still spread the virus to others while not having any cold sores or genital herpes lesions.
Sometimes, people with asymptomatic herpes might experience an initial outbreak of cold sores or genital herpes, only to have the virus disappear after the first outbreak. In this case, herpes is still present in the body, but simply remains inactive and doesnt produce further outbreaks.
It can be difficult to know whether or not you have asymptomatic HSV-1 or HSV-2, or simply have infrequent herpes outbreaks. However, if youre confident you have herpes but havent had an outbreak for several years, its likely that you have an asymptomatic infection.
Even if youre asymptomatic, its still important to take precautions against spreading herpes to other people. Herpes remains in the body even if you dont have any symptoms, and there is a risk that you could spread the virus through kissing, oral sex or other sexual activity.
If you have asymptomatic herpes, the best approach is to speak to your doctor about treatment options and the use of suppressive therapy to reduce your risk of infecting others.
The herpes virus is spread by skin-to-skin contact and can be transmitted during vaginal, oral or anal sex. The infection can occur anywhere on the genitals, in areas around the groin or pubic area, and in or around the anus. Cold sores on the mouth can cause genital infection during oral sex for those who do not already have the cold sore virus.
The virus can be spread when someone with HSV has an episode or an outbreak characterised by having a sore, blister, ulcer or skin split . It can also be spread between episodes, when there is no sore, blister, ulcer or skin split present called asymptomatic viral shedding.
During viral shedding the virus is on the skin surface and can be spread through genital skin-to-skin contact, or from the mouth or face to genital skin during contact.
Herpes expert H. Hunter Handsfield, MD, explains the basics about genital herpes, including the difference between genital HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection, testing options and the importance of knowing virus type, and the three-prong strategy for prevention. See more herpes videos at sexualhealthTV.com .
Have a question about herpes youd like Dr. Handsfield or our other experts to answer? Visit our Ask the Experts page to learn how.
Recommended Reading: Do Herpes Bumps Go Away
First things first: Theres no way to protect yourself from HSV-1 and HSV-2 thats 100% effective. Limiting sexual contact when someone is having a herpes outbreak is an important first step, which may reduce the risk of transmission. Although theres currently no cure, daily antiviral medication can be prescribed by a healthcare provider following a herpes diagnosis that helps manage and prevent outbreaks. Currently, herpes infections are treated with antivirals that are prescribed by a healthcare provider, such as acyclovir , valacyclovir , or famciclovir . Using condoms and dental dams can also help reduce the chances of transmission.
Getting yourself and your partner/s screened for herpes can be one way to help prevent the spread of the virus. Herpes isnt usually part of routine STI screening, so make sure you tell your healthcare provider that you are interested in being checked for herpes as well, which would require a blood test. Keep in mind, however, that blood test results may not be able to accurately detect a recent infection. Its also important to remember that it is po
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Do Most People Have Herpes

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