2008 Woodie Awards
Health facts about herpes
By: Katie Martin
Issue date: 5/14/08 Section: Campus Life
Sexually transmitted diseases often have a stigma and most people aren't aware that they or their partners who might be infected have one.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, herpes is a sexually transmitted disease that is caused by herpes simplex viruses, type 1 and 2.
Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2. This STD can be spread during vaginal, anal and oral sex and sometimes by genital touching.
With herpes the symptoms don't show up for 1 to 30 days or longer after having sex and they are relatively vague. For instance, some people don't even have symptoms, while others may experience flu-like feelings.
Other symptoms that are a better indicator of herpes include: small, painful blisters on the sex organs or mouth, and there can be tell-tale signs such as itching or burning before the blisters appear.
These blisters last one to three weeks and break leaving tender sores that may take two to four weeks to heal. Outbreaks can happen weeks or months after the initial blisters but they are always less severe and shorter than the first outbreak.
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation booklet on a guide to responsible sex, there are about 1 million new cases of genital herpes each year and an estimated 45 million cases that already exist.
Even though the infection can stay in the body indefinitely, the number of outbreaks usually decrease over the course of a few years.
Medication can help reduce the pain, itching, and frequency of recurrent outbreaks as well as reduce the transmission to partners.
The CDC says the best way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including genital herpes, is "to abstain from sexual contact or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to be uninfected."
"Screening for herpes isn't routinely done, but diagnostic testing is available" said Dr. Bruce Wilbur, of the California State University, Stanislaus Health Center. "There are also effective anti-viral medications that suppress the virus" says Wilbur, "and allow patients to live a normal life."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, herpes is a sexually transmitted disease that is caused by herpes simplex viruses, type 1 and 2.
Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2. This STD can be spread during vaginal, anal and oral sex and sometimes by genital touching.
With herpes the symptoms don't show up for 1 to 30 days or longer after having sex and they are relatively vague. For instance, some people don't even have symptoms, while others may experience flu-like feelings.
Other symptoms that are a better indicator of herpes include: small, painful blisters on the sex organs or mouth, and there can be tell-tale signs such as itching or burning before the blisters appear.
These blisters last one to three weeks and break leaving tender sores that may take two to four weeks to heal. Outbreaks can happen weeks or months after the initial blisters but they are always less severe and shorter than the first outbreak.
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation booklet on a guide to responsible sex, there are about 1 million new cases of genital herpes each year and an estimated 45 million cases that already exist.
Even though the infection can stay in the body indefinitely, the number of outbreaks usually decrease over the course of a few years.
Medication can help reduce the pain, itching, and frequency of recurrent outbreaks as well as reduce the transmission to partners.
The CDC says the best way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including genital herpes, is "to abstain from sexual contact or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to be uninfected."
"Screening for herpes isn't routinely done, but diagnostic testing is available" said Dr. Bruce Wilbur, of the California State University, Stanislaus Health Center. "There are also effective anti-viral medications that suppress the virus" says Wilbur, "and allow patients to live a normal life."
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