Risks involved in genital herpes infection.

Resolved question:

I am a 22 years old male. I used to take part in sex parties with my friends and recently had gone for a party. It was about 3 weeks ago and now I am getting symptoms related to genital herpes. I see herpes sores in my genitals. I would like to know more about herpes. Is it a life threatening STD like HIV aids? What options are there for treatment of herpes? I don’t have any other sexually transmitted diseases. Please help me.

Submitted: 4 Days
Category: Community

Expert:  Dr. John Fuller replied 4 Days.

Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted infection, occurred through skin to skin contact with infected people. It is a viral disease caused by herpes simplex virus type 2. Anyway, it is not life threatening as HIV aids. But during and active outbreak, it will cause sores which are quite painful. Also, it will make way to HIV to enter your body easily through those skin breaks, making the situation worse. Herpes rarely become life threatening if it occurs along with HIV aids.

Another risk involved with genital herpes is the ease of transmission from one person to another. In some people the virus will stay dormant for years. It makes the infected person unaware of the infection and he can transmit it to anyone having sex with him. In some cases of pregnancy also, herpes can become serious. The risk of transmission increases if the mother got infected towards the later stages of pregnancy. This is because there will not be enough for the body to prepare antibodies against the virus. The chance of infecting the newborn, in these cases are very high and up to 30-50%. In mothers having an older infection, there will be antibodies present in their body and chances of spreading the virus to the baby will be very less.  However, Caesarean or C-section is used to take children out of womb, in almost all herpes cases. Another issue with herpes is that it will stay for a lifetime in body, once it is infected. There are no medications found till date to cure or eradicate the virus from the human body entirely after infection. So, a person will have to adjust with the situations and change his/her lifestyle according to the demand. More restriction should be taken in your sexual life to prevent getting your partner infected and to prevent yourself from getting infected with deadly STDs like HIV aids. Hope my answer helps. Take care.

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