What is herpes?

Doctors say there is no cure for herpes. But before we tackle that question, we need to ask, what is herpes?

What is herpes?

Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the herpes simplex virus. There are 2 strains of herpes simplex, and they are referred to as type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2). Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2.

It's estimated that herpes simplex is present in 50 to 80 percent of the American adult population, and at varying rates throughout the world. It is thought that around 20 percent, over 50 million people, are infected with genital herpes. It's reported that more than 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with genital herpes each year, and the largest increase is occurring in teenagers.

Oral herpes - cold sores - is even more common, and is also caused by the herpes simplex virus.
The majority of people are probably unaware they are infected, as they have few or no signs of the disease.

When signs do occur, they typically appear as one or more blisters on or around the genitals or rectum. The blisters break, leaving sores that generally take several weeks to heal the first time they occur. Typically, another outbreak can appear weeks or months after the first, but it almost always is less severe and shorter than the first outbreak. Although the infection can stay in the body indefinitely, the number of outbreaks tends to decrease over a period of years.

Genital HSV-2 infection is more common in women (approximately one out of four women) than in men (almost one out of five). This may be due to male-to-female transmissions being more likely than female-to-male transmission.

Living with genital herpes can be a hassle. When you have a herpes outbreak, it can feel like it takes days out of your life. And, you have questions about spreading genital herpes to a partner.

Herpes symptoms can come and go, but the virus stays in the nerve cells of your body even after all signs of the infection have gone away. In most people, the virus becomes active from time to time, creating an outbreak. Some people have herpes virus outbreaks only once or twice. Other people have many outbreaks of herpes each year.

There are many things you can do to reduce the outbreaks of herpes, starting with boosting your immune system. There are a number of treatments that can help you rid of herpes effectively, and you should definitely make use of this knowledge - whether or not they amount to a real cure for herpes.

Read more about herpes here.