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Genital Herpes: People
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Herpes Simplex type 2 virus (HSV-2) causes genital herpes. Once you have been infected with a form of the herpes virus, the virus continues to live in the nerve cells of the skin or the central nervous system, but doesn't cause any symptoms. Something, such as an illness, stress, sunburn, or injury, can cause the virus to become active again, which causes the symptoms of genital herpes. The virus may ... occur in people who are taking drugs to suppress the immune system. HSV-2 is contagious and is spread by contact with the fluid in the blisters. HSV-2 is commonly spread through any type of sexual contact.
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Genital herpes can not be cured. The virus will stay in your body forever, but it will remain dormant most of the time, if you are lucky. There is a treatment for it that your health care provider can prescribe. Acyclovir, an anti-viral drug, can relieve the symptoms faster than they would without the drug. Acyclovir or famciclovir (FAMVIR) will ... shorten the amount time you are contagiousness and help you have fewer and shorter outbreaks in the future. Ask your health care provider about this drug if you have genital herpes it works very well for many people.
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The only way to prevent genital herpes is to avoid contact with infected persons. This is not an easy solution because many people aren't aware that they are infected and can easily spread the virus to others. Avoid all sexual contact with an infected person during a herpes outbreak. Because herpes virus can be spread at any time, condom use is recommended to prevent the spread of virus to uninfected partners. As of early 1998 there were no herpes vaccines available, although new herpes vaccines are being tested in humans.
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Researchers have shown that the oral form of acyclovir (Zovirax®) is a superior and safe treatment that helps patients with first or recurrent episodes of genital herpes. The oral form of the drug is taken five times a day and markedly shortens the course of the first episode and limits the severity of recurrences, particularly if taken within 24 hours of onset of symptoms. People who have very frequent recurrent episodes of the disease can take oral acyclovir twice daily for up to one year at a time to suppress the virus' activity and prevent most recurrences. After a year, it is reasonable to stop the medication and only to restart it if frequent recurrences resume. Acyclovir is not a cure for herpes—the virus remains in the body; but while taken regularly, the medicine interferes with the virus' ability to reproduce itself.
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Unfortunately, most people who have genital herpes don't know it because they never have any symptoms, or they do not recognize any symptoms they might have. When there are symptoms, they can be different in each person. Most often, when a person becomes infected with herpes for the first time, the symptoms will appear within two to 10 days. These first episodes of symptoms usually last two to three weeks.
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To reduce the risk of transmitting genital herpes, people who have the virus should avoid sexual contact from the time they first feel any symptoms until their lesions are completely healed. During times when there are no symptoms, using latex male condoms for genital-to-genital contact reduces the risk of transmission, according to the American Social Health Association. But condoms are only effective if they cover or prevent contact with the area of the body that has a lesion or active virus.
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