How Is Genital Herpes Spread
- Saliva from a partner with an oral herpes infection
- Genital fluids from a partner with a genital herpes infection
- Skin in the oral area of a partner with oral herpes or
- Skin in the genital area of a partner with genital herpes.
You also can get genital herpes from a sex partner who does not have a visible sore or is unaware of their infection. It is also possible to get genital herpes if you receive oral sex from a partner with oral herpes.
You will not get herpes from toilet seats, bedding, or swimming pools. You also will not get it from touching objects, such as silverware, soap, or towels.
If you have more questions about herpes, consider discussing your concerns with a healthcare provider.
Cycle And Duration Of A Herpes Outbreak
When an individual is first infected with herpes and exhibit active symptoms, the duration of the primary outbreak will be the worst and most painful and can take 3 to 6 weeks to resolve. Subsequent recurrent outbreaks will be less severe, typically lasting 3 to 14 days and the frequency will become farther and farther apart with each recurring attack.
A typical cycle and duration of a herpes outbreak may look like the following:
When Should I See My Doctor
You may need to see a doctor if you have more severe symptoms or a weakened immune system if, for example, you have HIV or you are having cancer treatment.
Its also a good idea to see your doctor if:
- there are signs the cold sore is infected, such as redness around the sore, pus and a fever
- you arent sure you have a cold sore
- the cold sore isnt healing, it’s spreading or you have more than one cold sore
- your cold sore has spread to near your eyes
- you get cold sores often
Antibiotics may be needed if the cold sore gets infected.
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What You Need To Know
- Herpes simplex virus , also known as genital herpes, is most likely to be spread when an infected person is having an outbreak, but it can also be transmitted without any symptoms being present.
- Medications can help reduce your symptoms, speed up the healing of an outbreak and make you less contagious.
- If you know you have genital herpes before becoming pregnant, your physician will monitor your condition throughout your pregnancy. If you have an active outbreak at the time of delivery, cesarean section may be recommended.
Where Does The Herpes Virus Live In The Body
The herpes simplex viruses are latent, meaning they can live in the body without causing symptoms. After the initial infection, the virus gets into the nerve roots and spreads to the sensory nerve ganglia, the junctions where nerves from different parts of the body come together. For the genital area, the ganglia are adjacent to the spinal cord in the lower back. For orofacial herpes , the ganglia are located behind the cheek bone.
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How Long After Taking Valtrex Are You Not Contagious
It depends greatly on a few factors. First, the severity of the outbreak. Second, how fast you were able to react to an outbreak by taking Valtrex.
Valtrex is usually prescribed by doctors for a 7 to 10 day period, which is about the time it takes for herpes blisters to heal.
The benefits of using Valtrex is to decrease the duration of outbreaks, which is the period herpes is most contagious in.
Myth #: Your Sex Life Is Over
While theres no cure, herpes treatment is simple and can shorten or prevent outbreaks, so you can still have a love life.
People have a disproportionate fear of herpes in relation to any other STI, Grimes says. They feel like their sex lives are ruined forever and thats in no way the case.
If you have the virus, your doctor may prescribe a medication like Zovirax or Valtrex to keep on hand in case of a flare-up. And if you experience outbreaks often, your provider may recommend daily dosing. However you treat it, its worth remembering that herpes is a condition to manage it doesnt define you.
If you have to be perfect for your new partner, that partner will be looking a very, very long time to find a match! Grimes says. Everyone has something, and since one in six Americans between 14-49 have HSV-2, odds are very high that your next partner is in the same boat. The main issue is to have productive conversations around these issues.
So theres no reason for all the stigma and secrecy surrounding herpes, since its safe to assume more people have it than you think. And if youre diagnosed with the virus, your provider will help you find a treatment plan thats easy, effective, and fit for your lifestyle.
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What Happens At A Sexual Health Clinic
The doctor or nurse at the sexual health clinic will:
- ask about your symptoms and your sexual partners
- use a small cotton bud to take some fluid from 1 of your blisters or sores for testing
The test cannot:
- be done if you do not have visible blisters or sores
- tell you how long you have had herpes or who you got it from
Symptoms might not appear for weeks or even years after you’re infected with the herpes virus.
How Long Do Sores From Herpes Simplex Last
If youre infected with HSV-1, commonly known as oral herpes, you may notice tingling or burning around your mouth in the days before a cold sore appears. These blisters break open and ooze fluid before forming a crust. Usually, sores last for seven to 10 days.
If youre infected with HSV-2, commonly known as genital herpes, your first outbreak may last between two to four weeks. Recurrent outbreaks usually last between three to seven days.
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How Can You Stop Cold Sores From Spreading
Follow a few simple steps to help stop cold sores from spreading.
1. Dont Touch
Touching is how cold sores are spread. The only time you should touch a cold sore is when youre applying cream. The less you touch it, the less likely it is that youll spread it elsewhere around your body or to someone else. This applies from the first tingle to when its totally disappeared. If youre applying make-up around the area, use a disposable applicator such as a cotton swab rather than your fingers.
2. Wash Your Hands
You should do this after touching your cold sore and before touching your eyes, contact lenses, genitals or any area of broken skin.
3. Dont Kiss
This means any sort of kiss, even on the cheek. Its important to be extra careful around babies, children, pregnant women or people with lowered immunity. Most people get HSV-1 as a child through an affectionate kiss from an infected adult.
4. Avoid Oral Sex
Abstain from engaging in oral sex when you have symptoms of a cold sore, as you can pass on the HSV-1 virus, giving your partner an infection in their genital area.
5. Dont Share Personal Items
This covers food, eating utensils, straws, cups, glasses, lipsticks, lip balm, cold sore cream and anything else that has come into contact with your saliva or cold sore.
6. Change Your Toothbrush
The virus can lurk in the bristles of your toothbrush so treat yourself to a new one after the blister has formed and again after the attack has cleared up.
7. Avoid Your Triggers
Subclinical Hsv Genital Shedding
The overall percentage of days with subclinical HSV shedding was 13.7% . The time since the first genital herpes episode was significantly associated with reduced subclinical shedding. Subclinical HSV shedding occurred on 26.2% of days among participants < 1 year from first herpes episode, 13.1% of days among those 19 years , and 9.3% of days among those 10 years from first herpes episode . These differences remained significant among those 19 years and those 10 years from first episode after adjusting for age and race .
Percentage of days with positive HSV PCR sample by time from first genital herpes episode. A, Subclinical positive days B, Genital lesion days Overall percentage of days indicated above box plot for each group.
Nonwhite race was also associated with less subclinical shedding compared with white race near statistical significance in univariate analysis and after adjusting for time since first episode and age . No other variables, including HSV-1 serostatus, were found to be significant predictors of shedding in multivariate analysis.
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When Is Herpes Most Contagious And Not Contagious
We all want to enjoy sex with our loved ones. But none of us want to spread herpes to our non-hsv partners. This is why we search for the best ways to avoid transmission of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 herpes viruses.
Those of us who have no visible symptoms, yet still carry the herpes virus, may still infect our partners around 10% of the time. This and the factors influencing it are explained further in the article.
Here are the most popular questions asked by herpes-sufferers:
When is herpes most contagious?How long until after an outbreak are you no longer contagious?Is herpes contagious all the time?Does herpes get less contagious over time?How long after taking Valtrex are you contagious?When is the herpes virus no longer contagious?Is herpes contagious when theres no outbreak?
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How Herpes Simplex Virus Is Spread
The virus is spread by skin or mucous membrane contact with infected saliva. People with a history of cold sores may shed the virus in their saliva even without a blister being present. Sometimes these viruses can cause infections of the eyes, hands or brain, and may cause severe illness in pregnant women or people whose immune systems are weakened.
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Types Of Tests Used To Diagnose Herpes
There are a number of tests used to diagnose herpes, depending on whether lesions are present.
- Symptomatic testing: Samples taken from lesions can be used to detect the virus with a viral culture or nucleic acid amplification test . Of the two, NAAT is more sensitive . A polymerase chain reaction test may be used if herpes is suspected as the cause of a systemic or central nervous system infection, such as encephalitis or meningitis.
- Asymptomatic testing: A blood test may be used to detect HSV antibodies. This is an option for people who had a previous outbreak or had recent exposure. Very recent herpes infections may not be detected. Retesting in a few months may be necessary for accurate results. Some blood tests can also specifically identify an HSV-1 or HSV-2 infection.
Due to the high rates of false-positives, screening for genital herpes in asymptomatic adults and adolescents is not recommended.
What Are Cold Sores
Cold sores , sometimes called fever blisters, are groups of small blisters on the lip and around the mouth. Often the first sign of a cold sore is a spot that tingles, burns, itches, or causes discomfort. A blister usually forms within 6 to 48 hours. The skin around the blisters is often red, swollen, and sore. The blisters may break open, leak a clear fluid, and then scab over after a few days. They usually heal in several days to 2 weeks.
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What Causes Cold Sores In A Child
The most common strain of the virus that causes cold sores is herpes simplex virus 1. The herpes simplex virus in a cold sore is contagious. It can be spread to others by kissing, sharing cups or utensils, sharing washcloths or towels, or by touching the cold sore before it is healed. The virus can also be spread to others 24 to 48 hours before the cold sore appears.
Once a child is infected with the herpes simplex virus, the virus becomes inactive for long periods of time. It can then become active at any time and cause cold sores. The cold sores usually dont last longer than 2 weeks. Hot sun, cold wind, illness, or a weak immune system can cause cold sores to occur.
Can Cold Sores Be Prevented
There are steps you can take to prevent spreading cold sores to others if you have them:
- Avoid any direct physical contact with other people, particularly kissing or intimate sexual activities such as oral sex.
- Always wash your hands if you touch the affected area.
- Try not to share things like cups, cutlery, towels, toothbrushes, razors, flannels and cold sore creams with anyone else.
- Try not to pick at a cold sore as this can lead to further infection and/or scarring.
There are also ways to prevent spreading cold sores from erupting again:
- Try to avoid your triggers. Triggers are different for different people but can include things like a cold , sunlight, very windy conditions, emotional or physical stress and hormonal changes.
- Take care of your general health avoid getting run down and overly stressed.
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Can Genital Herpes Come Back
Yes. Genital herpes symptoms can come and go, but the virus stays inside your body even after all signs of the infection have gone away. The virus becomes “active” from time to time, leading to an outbreak. Some people have outbreaks only once or twice. Other people may have four or five outbreaks within a year. Over time, the outbreaks usually happen less often and are less severe.
Experts do not know what causes the virus to become active. Some women say the virus comes back when they are sick, under stress, out in the sun, or during their period.
Can I Treat Herpes Simplex At Home
Avoiding known triggers, such as illness or stress, can help reduce how often you have herpes outbreaks.
How can I ease my symptoms during an outbreak of HSV-1 ?
- Over-the-counter creams such as L-lysine, benzocaine or docosanol .
- Applying ice to blisters or sores.
How can I ease my symptoms during an outbreak of HSV-2 ?
- Apply an ice pack to your genitals. Wrap the ice pack in a washcloth or apply it over your underwear.
- Keep your genitals dry. Wear cotton or other nonsynthetic underpants and avoid tight-fitting clothes. Moist sores take longer to heal.
- Soak in a warm bath.
- Take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve pain.
- Topical 1% or 2% lidocaine may be used as a topical analgesic.
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Symptoms Of Oral Herpes
Oral herpes is most often caused by HSV-1, but can also be caused by HSV-2. It usually affects the lips and, in some primary attacks, the mucous membranes in the mouth. A herpes infection may occur on the cheeks or in the nose, but facial herpes is very uncommon.
Primary Oral Herpes Infection
If the primary oral infection causes symptoms, they can be very painful, particularly in children. Symptoms include:
- Tingling, burning, or itching around the mouth are the first signs.
- Red, fluid-filled blisters that may form on the lips, gums, mouth, and throat.
- Blisters that break open and leak. As they heal, they turn yellow and crusty, eventually turning into pink skin. The sores last 10 to 14 days and can be very uncomfortable.
- Blisters that may be preceded or accompanied by sore throat, fever, swollen glands, and painful swallowing.
Recurrent Oral Herpes Infection
A recurrent oral herpes infection is much milder than the primary outbreak. It usually manifests as a single sore, commonly called a cold sore or fever blister . The sore usually shows up on the outer edge of the lips and rarely affects the gums or throat.
Transmission Of Genital Herpes
Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease spread by skin-to-skin contact. The risk of infection is highest during outbreak periods when there are visible sores and lesions. However, genital herpes can also be transmitted when there are no visible symptoms. Most new cases of genital herpes infection do not cause symptoms, and many people infected with HSV-2 are unaware that they have genital herpes.
To help prevent genital herpes transmission:
- Use a condom for sexual intercourse.
- Use a dental dam for oral sex.
- Limit your number of sexual partners.
- Be aware that nonoxynol-9, the chemical spermicide used in gel and foam contraceptive products and some lubricated condoms, does not protect against STDs.
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Ruling Out Conditions That Resemble Oral Herpes
Canker Sores
Simple canker sores are often confused with the cold sores of HSV-1. Canker sores frequently crop up singly or in groups on the inside of the mouth, or on or underneath the tongue. Their cause is unknown, and they are common in perfectly healthy people. They are usually white or grayish crater-like ulcers with a sharp edge and a red rim. They usually heal within 2 weeks without treatment.
This aphthous ulcer is located in front of and just below the bottom teeth.
Thrush
Oral candidiasis is a yeast infection that causes a whitish overgrowth in the mouth. It is most common in infants, but can appear in people of all ages, particularly people taking antibiotics or those with impaired immune systems.
Other conditions that may be confused with oral herpes include herpangina , sore throat caused by strep or other bacteria, and infectious mononucleosis.