Herpes – what is it?

Genital herpes is caused by infection with a virus called Herpes simplex (HSV). There are two strains, HSV-1 and HSV-2, both of which can cause genital herpes and cold sores in the mouth area.

Symptoms

In most people, symptoms are mild or nonexistent. If symptoms do occur, they typically include itching/ burning/tingling of the skin, followed by redness and small blisters which break open to form little sores. The blisters can appear on the penis or anal area, or on the vaginal lips (for women). They can also be inside the urethra, rectum, vagina and on the cervix.

The first outbreak can last two or three weeks and often feels like flu, with muscle aches, headaches, swollen glands and burning on passing urine. If you get your first episode of herpes in the anal/rectal area, this can cause quite severe discomfort, diarrhoea and an anal discharge. Sometimes there are no further outbreaks.

Recurrences result in fewer blisters/ sores which are much less painful and only take a few days to heal. For very many people, the frequency of recurrences declines with time.

Transmission

Herpes is transmitted by direct contact, including genital-to-genital, mouth-to-mouth, mouth-to-genital and genital-to-mouth contact. Herpes is most infectious during outbreaks, from the first signs of burning/tingling until the skin has completely returned to normal.

Prevention

Although condoms do help to prevent transmission, they are not a guarantee of complete protection, because the virus is also shed from areas not covered by the condom, (including the mouth!) and because so many people don’t have symptoms. Dental dams for rimming can offer some additional protection.

Treatment

Although there is no drug available to kill the virus outright, acyclovir is a prescription drug which is used in two situations: it helps greatly in shortening first outbreaks and, secondly, it may also be taken daily by the very small group of people who experience frequent, prolonged or severe recurrences.