Herpes is caused by herpes simplex virus of type 2 variant. It is usually transmitted through sexual contact with infected people. Normally, almost all types of herpes viruses stay dormant in human tissues for a long period of time without making any visual outbreaks. They can cause symptoms like cold sores to meningitis. The two common types of herpes viruses are HSV type 1, which cause cold sores in mouth, and HSV type  2, which cause genital herpes. There are a large number of over the counter medicines available to treat herpes virus. But none of them is found to be effective to eradicate the virus completely from human body. There are medicines like Abreva or Docosanol, which can reduce the effects of herpes in just one day or so. But none of the over the counter drugs can be used reliably to treat or suppress all symptoms of genital herpes. Hope my answer helps. Good luck.