What are Herpes?
Herpes is a viral disease also known as HSV (which stands for herpes simplex virus). Herpes Type I is most commonly found in the mouth, though it can be spread to the genitals via oral sex. Herpes Type II is most commonly located in the genitals, but it can be spread to the mouth by oral sex. To the present date, there is no cure available for herpes.
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What are the symptoms and transmission of Herpes?
Herpes sores tend to be blister-like and are often quite painful. It is common for the first breakout to be very intense and to include multiple sores. The intensity of the breakouts typically decreases with each subsequent breakout, and after a year of infection the breakouts usually become quite manageable. It is also important to realize that people can spread herpes from one part of the body to another part (this is called autoinoculation). Therefore, if you have a sore, it is important to wash your hands with soap and water whenever you have touched the sore before you touch another part of your body.
Fortunately, many people experience prodromal symptoms, which are feelings and sensations people have before the onset of their next outbreak. People can learn to pay attention to tingling sensations or warmth in the infected area before a sore appears. Prodromal symptoms can be useful because they help infected people predict when an outbreak is coming, before the sores appear. Because it is easiest to transmit herpes during an outbreak, the prodromal symptoms can clue a person to avoid intimate contacts that might infect a partner. It is possible to transmit herpes even when sores are not present, due to viral shedding--when viruses are released from the body even though no sores are present. It is also possible for a person to be infected with herpes and never show any symptoms, so they might not even know that they are a carrier.
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What is the emotional involvement for Herpes?
Viral shedding makes herpes one of the harder STDs to cope with on an emotional level since there is no available cure and it is always present in the body. The herpes diagnosis is somewhat easier to accept once you realize how common herpes is. Some statistics indicate that about 22% of Americans 12 years old or older have HSV-II (Fleming et al., 1997, p. 1105). Oral herpes is even more common, with numbers soaring higher every year. Just remember that herpes or any sexually transmitted disease is not your fault.
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What is the treatment for Herpes?
Although there is no cure for herpes, there are some treatments available which can decrease the frequency, length, and intensity of each outbreak. Please contact a physician if you think you might have herpes and discuss possible treatment options.
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The Difference Between Herpes Cold Sores and Canker Sores
The Difference Between Herpes Cold Sores and Canker Sores: Herpes Type I most often infects the lips, causing fever blisters or "cold sores". Observing their location and appearance can differentiate cold sores from canker sores. Cold sores appear on or at the edge of a person's lip or on the facial skin near a person's lip. They usually run their course within 8-12 days running through five stages: tingling, blistering, weeping, crusting, and finally healing. Canker sores are usually found on the movable parts of the mouth such as the tongue or the inside linings of the lips and cheeks. They begin as small oval or round reddish swellings, which usually burst within a day. The ruptured sores are covered by a thin white or yellow membrane and edged by a red halo. Generally, they heal within 2 weeks.
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