Genital Herpes - Do You Have It Or Not?

As it is commonly known, genital herpes is a widespread disease infecting the genital area. Infection causes open sores that are highly contagious, infecting men as well as women. It is generally transmitted through sexual contact but could be contracted through other ways as well.

It can be contracted from touching contaminated items like towels, underwear and toilet seats. One can also get it through kissing and in rare cases through oral sex.

This is such because the herpes simplex virus can survive outside the human body for several minutes, so extra caution should be exercised when using public facilities, such as restrooms.

Many of the individuals who carry the disease present no symptoms at all. That is highly dangerous because it cannot warn the healthy individuals about its existence. A large number of people get infected every year, because they ignore the symptoms or because they do not present any.

Incubation period of the virus is between three to seven days after the exposure. Usually, the first infection is violent, severe and it has extended evolution, or it can present no symptoms at all, depending on the reactivity of the patient and the individual immune response.

Manifestations of genital herpes appear in the genital area, which start with small red bumps that progress into watery blisters, then develop further into open sores. When scratched, the sores could burst open and secrete blood and pus. Before all these, the person will first feel a burning and itching sensation.

Two to four days after, the watery blisters will burst and develop into open raw wounds, which can become bigger and the boil covered with crusts can take up large areas of the skin.

As we mentioned, this infection affects both women and men, no matter what type of sexual activity they develop. People who practice anal sex can get lesions at the anus level. Women however can experience a great amount of pain if the virus is located at the urethra level. Stinging and burning feelings will definitely bother the infected woman, and this condition shall need immediate treatment.

A few of the symptoms of the infection are colds, fever, and headache. The sores could sometimes also spread to the upper thigh, hip and buttocks. Antiviral medications could be taken to control the recurrence of the virus and to clear up the sores.

Unfortunately, until present days, the specialists could not develop a treatment to prevent the latency state of the virus. Also there is no such remedy for permanent removal of the virus from the human organism. The virus can only be controlled.

Continuous treatments have rendered successful results in preventing the frequency of outbreaks of the genital herpes, as well as in reducing the severity of the infection. The anti-viral treatment must be continued up to fourteen days, and if the wounds are still not healed, the medication can be extended for seven more days.

The most important step for an infected person to take is to pay attention to the symptoms, promptly consult a doctor, and most importantly do everything that is necessary to prevent transmission of the disease to others.

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