Target Herpes News and information about Herpes, including the causes, symptoms and treatments.

Herpes Simplex is a viral disease. This virus affects different areas of the body based on the site of infection. Oral Herpes affects the mouth and face with blisters and cold sores and Genital Herpes affects the genitals and is the second most common form of herpes. There are other disorders related to this virus and some of them include keratitis (infection of the eye’s cornea), meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal cord), neonatal herpes (transmission of herpes from mother to newborn), encephalitis (acute inflammation of the brain), and Bell’s Palsy (inflammation of the cranial nerve).

This virus “cycles” with periods of activity and periods of remission, however genital herpes is considered asymptomatic meaning that a person can be a carrier yet show no signs or symptoms. After the initial infection, this virus moves to nerves and resides there permanently and over time activity reduces in frequency and severity, sometimes showing no symptoms at all. Even though one might not show any signs or symptoms of this disease it does not mean they do not infect because they are still the infecting agent. This virus is the easiest in transmission with infection occurring through contact of lesions or any body fluid.

Patients with suppressed immune systems, those with HIV, transplant recipients and even those with stressful life events can develop serious life threatening complications from this disease. It is important to realize that when this virus enters the body it lives there permanently and with a good immune system, the body will produce antibodies that can prevent activity. When the immune system plummets for whatever reason, the body will likely begin to have activity from the virus.

Herpes affects a lot of people, but because it is so personal, it is not talked about a lot. Talking about in a restricted manner, like it is a taboo subject, leads to misconceptions, myths, and half truths. This article will present some facts about herpes and a few myths too.

The fact is about 20 percent of adult males have herpes, and about 25 percent of adult females have herpes. The reason more females have herpes is because women are more susceptible to getting it because the female genitals have more areas with cells that are moist with body fluids than men. This means if a woman has sexual intercourse with a man with herpes, she is more likely to get it than a man who has sexual intercourse with a woman who has herpes.

More people in New York City have herpes than the national average. It is not likely that anyone can say conclusively why this is so, but a logical assumption would be that there is more promiscuity there than the national average. A myth is that condoms provide complete protection against the spread of genital herpes. The fact is condoms provide only partial protection from herpes virus infections. Condoms reduce the risk, but they do not entirely remove the risk. This is because condoms cannot cover all the areas where the herpes virus may be present.

Myth

Herpes is a dangerous infection that only affects people with very active sex lives, or people who are very promiscuous. The fact is herpes affects people of all backgrounds, income levels, education levels and ethnic groups. People with very few sex partners can get herpes. And regarding the danger, for most people the symptoms are so mild that about half the people with herpes do not even know they have it. It cannot cause death, unless it is a complication in a more serious infection, especially with someone with a severely compromised immune system.

Fact

In the heat of the moment, about 32% of people with herpes will lie about it and say they do not have herpes. For this reason it is better to plan in advance to be honest, and bring the subject up before going that far. And it is a myth that oral sex is safe sex. Cold sores, which are a form of herpes, can be transmitted from the lips to the genitals, and vice versa.

Here is a myth about monogamous relationships: If you are in a monogamous relationship and you get herpes, then your partner must have cheated on you. The truth is you or your partner may have contracted the virus a long time ago, and the symptoms may have been so mild, or misdiagnosed as something else, that you or your partner did not know you had it. But due to stress or other factors, you or your partner had a more severe outbreak, and then either of you infected the other. This is a possibility, however, there is also a good chance that your partner cheated on you.

And lastly, it is most unlikely that herpes can be transmitted by a toilet seat. There are no known proven cases of someone getting herpes from a toilet seat.