GENITAL HERPES
Posted by adminRecently, an increasing number of sexually active women and men have become infected with genital herpes. The condition is caused by a virus which is similar to that which causes cold sores on a person’s lips. The virus, usually herpes simplex virus type 2, or HSV2, prefers to grow in moist areas, choosing especially the entrance to a woman’s vagina and the shaft of a man’s penis.
A few days after being infected during sexual intercourse with a partner who has the herpes blisters on her vulva or in her vagina, the man notices a localized burning feeling on the shaft of his penis. The burning is followed by a crop of small blisters which burst, forming shallow, painful ulcers. After a day or so the ulcers are covered by scabs, which separate in about four days leaving a faint scar. The whole disease lasts between 7 and 10 days.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment; and even more unfortunately, the infection tends to recur after a long or short interval. This is because the virus invades the nerves supplying the area, where it lies dormant. When something occurs, such as stress, its activity is triggered and it moves along the nerves back into the skin, where the blisters form once again. About 5 per cent of people infected with HSV2 develop recurrences.
Genital herpes has a further danger. A man who has herpes on his penis may infect his sexual partner. If the infection occurs on the cervix of her uterus, the virus may be a factor in the development of cancer, years later.
The lesson is clear. If you develop genital herpes, avoid sex until the disease has disappeared.
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