What Is Herpes

Herpes is actually a common viral infection. Herpes will cause oral herpes, fever blisters or cold sores. It will also cause genital herpes which are genital sores/sores that are almost always underneath the waist.

There are two different types of the herpes simplex virus:

• HSV1 Herpes Simplex Type 1
• HSV2 Herpes Simplex Type 2

When looked at under a microscope the HSV1 and HSV2 look identical. It is possible for either type to affect either the mouth or the genitals. It’s only the most common that HSV1 is an above wait and the HSV2 a below wait.

The natural defense system for the body is referred to as the Immune Responses. Whenever the herpes virus attacks the body’s immune system the body will fight back against it. As the battle begins to intensify there are some heavy losses by not just the herpes virus but by the immune system as well. This will cause the body to be far less able to defend itself from attacks from other viruses. For many reasons but this reason especially the herpes patient should make sure to keep their herpes under control at all times.

The Herpes Attitude

There are a couple of different attitudes towards herpes:

• Herpes doesn’t affect any additional part of the body
• There’s nothing to be done to avoid another outbreak

It’s important to be informed and educate yourself about your virus as both of these attitudes are wrong.

Get Informed

One important thing to remember is that you’re not alone. The estimate is that around 80 million people throughout the United States are affected by herpes. That correlates to just about every 1 out of 5 Americans.

1 out of every 4 teen girls in America that is between the ages of 14-19 in age has or has had an STD. This is from an estimate from the CDC and it has the adolescent health experts quite troubled. Out of the study it shows that 2% of these girls have herpes.

Additionally, from the CDC study mentioned above, only ½ of these teen girls have admitted to having sex. When asked to define sex most all of the teens defined having sex as intercourse only and didn’t include other types of intimacy, one example of these being oral sex. Oral sex is just as likely to spread diseases, this includes herpes. Out of these girls 40% of them that admitted to having sex had an STD, alarming!

Although we’re talking about the teen girls from the CDC study a little the following goes for anyone, get more information. The more informed you are about herpes the easier it’ll be for you to manage your disease.

Controlling Herpes

You need to do what you can for yourself to ensure that you’re limiting the reoccurrences. You can do this by making sure that you’re:

• Maintaining good general health
• Adding lysine into your diet
• Keeping your stress to an absolute minimum

You should take care of the affected skin area by keeping that area dry as well as clean whenever you’re going through an outbreak which will help the healing process.

Some of the first symptoms of an outbreak are tingling, itching or burning. You should make sure that you avoid any physical contact during this time and after until all of the sores are completely healed. Don’t assume that once they are scabbed over that you you’re ok, you’re not. You need to also be quite aware of possible shedding, also known as asymptomatic transmission. This can happen even after the sores have healed.

Always use condoms! When condoms are used properly they can help you with your risk reduction of either getting or spreading herpes to others. You should avoid/prevent self-infection to other areas of your body. You will do this by making sure that you’re washing your hands with soap and water immediately after touching a sore. Something better, just avoid ever touching a sore.

For prospective parents – If either the mother or the father has genital herpes or if any of the previous partners of either the mother or the father has had herpes you need to talk to the doctor about it.

It’s possible for you to get genital herpes from a cold sore.

If you’re a woman that has genital herpes never skip your pap smear, get it annually.

Herpes is spread through direct contact.

Herpes can play a role in the spreading of HIV. HIV is the virus that leads to AIDs. Herpes is able to make more people susceptible to infection and can make those that have HIV even more infectious.

Final Words of Advice

You must inform yourself about herpes. For many people the diagnosis of herpes can lead to a lifetime of:

• Confusion
• Anger
• Fear
• Frustration

For many people there seems that there is no place to turn to in order to get some help in dealing with the sensitivity of talking about something like a herpes infection. Although it’s a sensitive subject don’t be afraid, there is help available.