Recognizing and Understanding Genital Herpes

How can you tell someone has genital herpes? Do you look at the person? Ask yourself and look straight in the eye? Do not ask about their sex life? Well, my answer is no, maybe and perhaps.

It May be a good idea to ask someone if they are conscious of having genital herpes. The more sexual partners a person has had in their lives, the more they are likely to be infected with herpes. But these methods are totally inadequate. Did you know that the majority of people who have genital or oral herpes are not aware of it? So how do you explain that? Simple, many oral or genital herpes only people infected have no symptoms of herpes, others have symptoms that are mild enough to confuse them with a rash or a mosquito bite or whatever this is causing May, redness, swelling, itching, burning and blisters, May and some not even know what the symptoms are herpes.

The fact that someone does not have herpes or recognize the symptoms does not mean that they have not. About 25% of the U.S. population is infected with genital herpes, with women being more affected than men. Studies have shown that the vast majority (80% -90%) persons who have genital herpes have not been diagnosed with the disease.

According to a recent article published by the Carnegie Mellon University in January 2006, most sexually active adolescent girls know almost nothing about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), with the exception of AIDS, before it is too late. Another 2006 study led by Dr. Herbert Kaufman, Boyd professor of Ophthalmology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, found the herpes virus-1 in 98 percent of participants in good health . None of them showed any symptoms, but they throw the herpes virus in their saliva and tears at least once during the 30 days of study. Although this study does not directly target genital herpes, it shows that most people can be totally ignorant of carrying the virus and be infected with herpes.

The surrender or excretion means that the virus is present on the skin and ready to be transmitted. Herpes is transmitted by skin contact 98% of the time. Studies have shown that excretion occur in May nearly 40% of HSV-2 (most often associated with genital herpes) of those infected. Excretion viral symptoms last May 1 to 5 days, which means that a person can be contagious without showing any symptoms at the time. The average duration of each period of viral shedding was determined by laboratory studies, but is just an estimate.

So how can you say for a fact if someone has genital herpes? The only way to know is to examine blood, swab or PCR test results. Swab and PCR tests are very accurate when they detect herpes. However, if a test was carried out late or returned at the end laboratory, May return a false negative result. Western blot test, a blood test, is the most accurate test, but a May return false negative if the person has been infected in the past 3 months. It is not easy to know whether a person has genital herpes or not.

A final consideration, herpes simplex 1 or HSV-1 usually causes oral herpes and cold sores and herpes simplex-2, genital herpes. But herpes virus-1 genital herpes is increasingly common nowadays. It is mainly transmitted during oral sex of a person who has an infection by oral herpes with or without symptoms. So if get genital herpes is a concern for you, you should consider oral herpes and genital herpes when he asked a partner.

As you can see, it is very difficult to assess whether a partner has genital herpes. There is no proven products in order to prevent transmission of genital herpes at the moment. Some are currently being tested for FDA approval and, hopefully, be marketed soon. In the meantime, the best option is to use a condom.