GENITAL HERPES: Detecting and Dealing with Symptoms of Genital Her...

Detecting and Dealing with Symptoms of Genital Herpes

Genital herpes is a common Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) that can be detected, diagnosed and treated effectively by possessing the necessary information about it. Having the proper knowledge for genital herpes prevents you from acquiring it, therefore, living a healthy and safe proactive life.

Sexually active individuals with multiple partners are threatened with different kinds of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI). One of which is genital herpes. Most people are unaware of such diseases that easily spread among them due to lack of knowledge or not bothering to know more of the disease at all.

Detecting and treating genital herpes can be made simple if you give it enough thought.

You can get genital herpes by having sexual contact (vaginal, oral or anal) with someone shedding the herpes virus during an outbreak or an asymptomatic (no symptoms) period.

Since this disease is caused by a type 2 Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), it remains in certain nerve cells of your body and is incurable. Once you become infected with the virus, the symptoms called outbreaks come back from time to time.

The first outbreak appears within 2 weeks after you become infected and can last for several days. These outbreaks develop near the area where the virus has entered your body. They start as small, reddish bumps that become blisters and eventually turn to itchy, painful sores that occasionally evolve into a crust and more often than not heal without leaving a scar.

These sores can also appear on body parts where the virus has entered through broken skin. They can also appear inside the vagina and on the cervix (opening to the womb) in women, or in the urinary passages of men and women.

When the virus is triggered and becomes active again, termed as Recurrence, it travels along the nerves of the skin and makes more virus and new sores near the site of the first outbreak, although milder.

Genital herpes infections usually do not cause serious health problems in healthy adults. In some people whose immune systems do not work properly, however, genital herpes outbreaks can be unusually severe and long lasting.

Health Care Providers can directly diagnose genital herpes by looking at the sores. Tests conducted also help in further specifying the type and gravity of the infection. Examples of these tests are a laboratory test called a Culture and a blood test called type-specific test.

The test result from the type-specific test, including the position of the sores in the body, will help your physician in diagnosing whether or not you have genital infection.

As genital herpes is incurable, treatments given by your doctor will only help in preventing future outbreaks and in decreasing the risk of passing herpes to sexual partners.

Genital herpes may be a common infection but it can be easily prevented once you possess the proper information to equip and prepare yourself. When you are knowledgeable, you can then have a proactive life that you can control and that you know is safe.

Learn to Recognize an Outbreak of Genital Herpes

The greater part of the people who have genital herpes don't have any idea that they are infected with the disease due to the fact that they are not experiencing any symptom of the disease. The symptoms that goes with genital herpes are sometimes very mild that they usually go unnoticed by the infected person.

Typically, the first outbreak of genital herpes is worst compared to the succeeding outbreaks in the future. And there are even some people who won't be able to experience the second outbreak of genital herpes. There are also other people who will experience recurrent outbreaks for the span of many years.

The symptoms of genital herpes during an outbreak usually include the presence of small blisters, red bumps, or open sores surrounding the genital and anal areas. The feelings of pain and/or itching encircling the genital areas, inner thighs, and/or buttocks are also part of the symptoms of genital herpes.

Pain or itching is the usual first symptoms of genital herpes and it will start to happen no further than a few weeks after being exposed to an infected person through sexual activity. Few days after the pain or itching, small blisters will appear that will rupture and become skin ulcers that bleed or ooze. Later on, there will be scab formation and then the ulcers will start to heal.

Sores in women usually appear within the vaginal area, buttocks, external genitals, cervix, or anus. Sores in men usually appear on the scrotum, penis, anus, buttocks, within the urethra, or thighs. The presence of ulcers during the genital herpes outbreak will cause pain during urination. Tenderness and pain around the genital area will be felt until the genital herpes infection heals.

During the first outbreak of genital herpes, the infected person may undergo flu-like symptoms like muscle aches, headache, fever, and swelling of lymph nodes especially in the groin.

Genital herpes recurrences are pretty normal but vary from one person to another in certain degrees. The recurrences of symptoms may happen for years or many times in each year. The larger part of the people infected with genital herpes will experience fewer and fewer outbreaks as years went by in their life.

These are the common factors that will trigger the genital herpes outbreaks to recur:
- Fatigue
- Stress
- Illness
- Weakening of the immune system due to medications or other infections like AIDS
- Friction due to vigorous sexual intercourse
- Surgery
- Menstruation

There are genital herpes cases that there is an ongoing active infection even if there are no visible lesions on the skin and this is also contagious.

The Eight Stages of Genital Herpes

The eight stages of genital herpes must be observed carefully so that a person with genital herpes may know what is happening during an outbreak and what will happen after. Even if there are no symptoms, there is still the possibility that the genital herpes virus will spread to another person.

Best Genital Herpes Treatment

Buy the best herpes treatment at Amazon. General herpes is categorized into eight stages. The following stages of genital herpes are warning or prodrome, early redness, small blisters or vesicles, swelling or edema, wet ulcers, dry crust, healed, and asymptomatic. These stages all depend on the symptoms that a person is experiencing with genital herpes.

It is very important to note that a person with genital herpes may be able to experience some of the stages but all of the stages of genital herpes. A person may be able to sense that the virus of genital herpes is active and there is an upcoming outbreak. This is the prodrome or the warning stage, which will last for only a few minutes before the occurrence of a genital herpes outbreak.

The warning signs for a genital herpes outbreak will happen in the area where the outbreak will really occur. Warning signs are totally different for every person but these are some of the common warning signs of genital herpes outbreak: (a) itching, tingling, or burning in an area of the genitals, (b) buttocks or leg pains, (c) burning feeling on a foot's bottom or side of the leg, (d) headache, fever, and other flu-like symptoms, and (e) depressed feeling and irritable emotionally.

During the warning stage, active genital herpes virus may be present on the skin and can easily spread to another person in contact. After the warning stage, genital herpes sores will develop on the skin. This means that the genital herpes virus is already active on the skin but not all individuals will have visible sores during a genital herpes outbreak.

The genital herpes sores will develop according to the following stages:

(a) There is early redness in a small area of the skin, which is itchy, painful, or sensitive even to the touch.

(b) There is swelling in a small area but may be unnoticeable.

(c) There are blisters that are small but filled with clear, red, or whitish fluid on the top part.

(d) When the top part of the blisters come off, wet ulcers will occur. Wet ulcers look like red small cuts or swollen areas that are very tender and raw to the touch.

(e) Scab or dry crust will be form where the wet ulcers occur when the sores are healing. When the sores get dry, the crust will harden and there is a growth of the new skin.

When the dry crust falls off or when the sores dry up even without the crust, the healing of the genital herpes sore is complete already.

The last stage of genital herpes is the asymptomatic where the virus is dormant and there are no symptoms, but the virus is actively replicating known as viral shedding. During viral shedding, the genital herpes virus can still be spread to another person and no medication is known to prevent this spread.

It is important that a person with genital herpes must be aware of the different stages, that proper treatment may be done to avoid the spread of genital herpes.

Signs of Genital Herpes

 genital herpes stages

Genital Herpes is among the highly contagious sexually transmitted diseases today. Learn more about its symptoms to be able to cure it and avoid infecting other people with such STD.

Sexually active people have more chances of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases or STDs. Thus, it is then proper for everyone to know the symptoms of such diseases.

Among the leading STDS is Genital Herpes. In the United States alone, studies reveal that 50 million Americans have acquired Genital Herpes. Every year, one million individuals develop genital herpes, affecting the poor, those with low literacy level and those who have sexual intercourse with different partners.

The transmission of genital herpes has been very high because the disease is highly contagious. In fact, doctors agree that those who have genital herpes may infect other sexual partners without them knowing that they have such a disease.

Recent figures show that 80-90% of those suffering from genital herpes cannot detect the symptoms of genital herpes. Health specialists recommend individuals to be better informed of the symptoms of genital herpes to be able to practice caution and to be free from such a disease.

The following are among the symptoms of genitalherpes.

Early signs

The earliest symptoms of genital herpes can develop in 3 to 7 days after a skin-to-skin contact with those who have genital herpes. The infections resemble small blisters around the sensitive body part. Most of the time, the blisters which are in groups could create an opening called an ulcer. These ulcers or blisters can form on or around the genitals or even around the anus.

Among men. The symptoms of genital herpes which take the form of blisters or ulcers develop on or around the penis. The symptoms, among women, of genital herpes usually develop inside the vagina. This makes it more difficult to detect unless they are examined by a doctor.

The initial development of genital herpes symptoms is the hardest part and usually longer than the remaining outbreak. Aside from ulcer or blisters, the infected individual may also suffer from other genital herpes symptoms such as high fever, muscle pain, head aches, vaginal discharge and enlargement of lymph glands located in the groin.

Remaining outbreak

If genital herpes persists, the development of the disease’s symptoms is much less. But, the individual might feel that the area to be infected by the blisters or ulcers is painful. This happens even before the development of the blisters or ulcers. When the individual experiences such a later outbreak, this means that he/she is more contagious. It is advisable to seek medical advice to avoid infecting other individuals. Doctors say that the genital herpes is contagious even though its symptoms such as blisters haven’t appeared yet.

Genital Herpes Facts

Genital herpes is very common among American people. Genital herpes is usually transmitted from one person to another through having sexual contact with an infected person.

One of the common sexually transmitted diseases in the United States is genital herpes. Genital herpes is usually caused by a virus called the herpes simplex virus or HSV. Herpes simplex viruses are categorized into two: HSV-1 and HSV-2. Commonly, the HSV-2 is the cause of genital herpes.

Most people infected by genital herpes will experience few symptoms or none at all. The usual symptoms of genital herpes infection are the appearance of some blisters around or on the genital area and/or rectum. On the first outbreakStages of genital herpes, the blisters will break open and they will become skin ulcers or sores that will usually heal within two to four weeks.

Ideally, another genital herpes outbreak will occur within weeks or even months after the first one but the succeeding outbreaks are mostly shorter and also less severe compared to the first one. Even if the genital herpes infection can remain in a person's body for an indefinite period of time, the frequency of outbreaks will usually lessen as years pass by.

Studies show that infections caused by genital herpes is really common among the people of the United States. Approximately more than 45 million people in the United States aging from 12 and above are experiencing genital herpes infection. Over the years, the percentage of American people who are genital herpes infected is declining slowly but steadily.

Genital herpes is mostly common among women than among men. The major reason is that the transmission of genital herpes is more possible from men to women than from women to men.

The herpes simplex viruses are commonly found in the blisters and are released when the blisters break open and become sores. When a skin to skin contact happens between an infected person and uninfected person during a genital herpes outbreak, more likely the uninfected person will become infected because a virus transmission will usually occur. But there are instances that even if there are no skin sores, the herpes simplex viruses can still be transmitted to another person.

Genital herpes that is caused by HSV-2 can only be transmitted through sexual contact between an infected person and an uninfected person. Transmission of genital herpes will happen even if the infected person doesn't have any manifestations of skin blisters and sores.

The HSV-1 can also cause genital herpes but mostly the infection is on the mouth and lips that is commonly called as 'fever blisters'. HSV-1 infections can also occur in the genital area through the oral to genital contact or genital to genital contact with a person with HSV-1 infection. Genital herpes outbreaks of HSV-1 are less frequent than HSV-2.

The Risks of Genital Herpes to an Unborn Child

For women, having genital herpes doesn't mean you can't have children. But there are risk factors that must be considered due to the possible transmission of the herpes simplex virus to a baby during pregnancy. since the risk of infection is great, HSV antibody testing is recommended during pregnancy.


It is still possible for women with genital herpes to have children. 20 to 25% of babies are born of women having genital herpes. But the unborn child is posed to the risks of a herpes simplex virus infection given certain conditions. Knowing important information regarding the risks of genital herpes infection can help a mother make the right decisions.

There are certain risk factors that the herpes simplex virus will be transmitted to the baby. (1) During delivery, the baby was exposed to the mother's herpes lesions, (2) If the mother was able to develop the herpes simplex virus antibodies during pregnancy, (3) Before the time of delivery, if the baby was able to acquire the herpes simplex virus antibodies from the mother.

When a pregnant woman has a first outbreak experience of genital herpes on her third trimester of pregnancy and was not able to develop the herpes simplex virus antibodies, there is a 33% chance of a virus transmission to the baby.

On the other hand, a pregnant woman having a recurrent outbreak of genital herpes but already has herpes simplex virus antibodies and the unborn child has also acquired the antibodies, there is a 3% chance of virus transmission to the baby.

When a woman has genital herpes and has developed the herpes simplex virus antibodies, an outbreak of genital herpes may not occur. During pregnancy, a woman's immune system is down and she may experience the first outbreak of genital herpes during this time. This outbreak is dangerous to the unborn child. Approximately 80% of pregnant women with genital herpes experience an outbreak recurrence with an average of three recurrences.

Of the babies who have herpes simplex virus infection, less that one-third have mothers that have a genital herpes rash. The herpes simplex transmission usually happens during the mother's labor and delivery. Seven out of 10 neonatal herpes infections are acquired due to the mother's first asymptomatic outbreak.

The herpes simplex virus infection on babies has very dangerous effects. A primary infection with recurrent HSV-1 while at labor is transmitted to babies. This infection is limited only to the eyes, mouth, and mucous membranes. An HSV-2 primary infection to babies will affect the baby's central nervous system that will cause meningitis, development delay, seizures, and even death.

A pregnant woman with a genital herpes outbreak is recommended to undergo a cesarean section so the baby's exposure to the herpes simplex virus may be reduced. Antiviral medications are available for the treatment of genital herpes during pregnancy. Acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir are the medications your doctor might prescribe. An IV acyclovir is used to treat babies with herpes simplex virus.

Extra care must be taken for women with no genital herpes. Avoid sex with a partner that has or is suspected to have genital herpes. Consult with your obstetrician and ask for HSV antibody testing. It is better to be careful now than to feel sorry later.

Factors Affecting Oral and Genital Herpes Outbreak

An oral or genital herpes outbreak will occur on a person that has been infected with the herpes simplex virus. More information can be found genital herpes stages article here. The frequency of an outbreak on a person depends on important factors that are related to the immune system, length of time, and site of preference. These are key indicators to an outbreak.

A person infected with the herpes simplex virus and has oral or genital herpes will usually experience an outbreak. There are three factors involved why an oral or genital herpes outbreak occurs. These are (1) how strong is the person's immune system; (2) how long has the herpes simplex virus been in a person's body; and (3) does the herpes simplex virus affect the usual site of preference in a person?

The strength of a person's immune system has a great role regarding the occurrence of an oral and genital herpes outbreak. The primary reason that people are experiencing oral and genital herpes outbreak more frequently is the limited immune system response or a weakened immune system.

The herpes simplex virus does not get stronger when the immune system is weak but the person's body cannot cope with the herpes simplex virus that is present in the body. When a person's immune system is compromised due to HIV, cancer, severe ailments, etc., the herpes simplex virus can greatly affect that person and an oral or genital herpes outbreak may occur.

The length of time that the herpes simplex virus has been in a person's body has a great role in the oral and genital herpes outbreak frequency. It is clear that those people who have the highest levels of herpes simplex virus antibodies have the greatest number of oral and genital herpes outbreaks.

A million Americans have contracted the herpes simplex virus type 1 or oral herpes during their childhood years. Because the herpes simplex virus has been in their body for a longer period of time, when they reach their adult years, only about five percent of them encounter medical problems and seek treatment for oral herpes.

Meanwhile, about 40 million Americans are infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 or genital herpes during their teenage years or sexually active adult years. Because the herpes simplex virus has been in their bodies for a shorter period of time, they usually experience a minimum of four genital herpes outbreaks during the first year. The frequency of genital herpes outbreaks will usually decrease over time.

The site of preference for the herpes simplex virus type 1 or oral herpes is the facial region specifically the mouth and lips. The site of preference for the herpes simplex virus type 2 or genital herpes is the genital area. When the type of herpes simplex virus is outside of its site of preference, the outbreak is usually milder than when the herpes simplex virus is in its normal site of preference.

People infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 genitally usually have fewer outbreaks in a single year. People infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 orally are very rare and outbreaks in a single year are rare also.

The immune system's strength, the length of time of the infection, and where the virus outbreak occurs are the factors that affect both oral and genital herpes.

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