by Colin Morley

Created on: February 13, 2010

Herpes is a viral infection which can manifest itself in sores on the mouth or the genital area. Because it is a viral infection, it is immune to antibiotics and at the time of writing, although Herpes can be contained to a great extent, it cannot be cured. Once you are infected with Herpes, the virus will remain in your body for the rest of your lifetime.

Does that mean that if you are infected with Herpes you cannot live a normal life?  No it does not. Recent figures indicate that at least 16% of the population and possibly up to 98 percent (study by Dr Herbert Kaufman, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, 2005) are infected with herpes in one of its two forms. Most people who are infected with the virus have no idea they are infected.

The two types of herpes virus are known as HSV1 and HSV2. It is a common misconception that these can be looked at as ‘good’ herpes and ‘bad’ herpes. This is brought about simply because to have a cold sore caused through the herpes virus on one’s lip is considered more socially acceptable than to have lesions in one’s genital area. Both varieties of the herpes virus can manifest themselves orally or genitally and both are highly contagious in a mouth to mouth, mouth to genital or genital to genital form of contact.

What is true is that HSV1 generally establishes itself in a group of nerve cells near the ears and that therefore it more commonly manifests itself as cold sores around the mouth. HSV2 more commonly establishes itself in nerve cells at the base of the spine and more usually manifests itself in sores in the genital area.

Both HSV1 and HSV2 viruses can be transmitted at times when the host is not displaying any obvious symptoms of outbreak. That is because the virus is latent, and ‘sheds’ according to various triggers, all of which are not fully understood. It is thought that in the first year of infection, genitally apparent HSV2 is likely to shed on between six and ten percent of days when the infected person is experiencing no symptoms. This, of course, increases the chance of the virus being passed from person to person.

Herpes symptoms can be very painful or simply very irritating, but will normally disappear within a few weeks even without any treatment. They are likely to recur frequently in the first few years of infection and then to abate. Commonly after ten years of infection, the disease appears to have permanently abated, but although symptoms do

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