Genital herpes is a type of sexually transmitted infection which is quite common and the underlying cause is the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Open sexual contact is the main way that the virus spreads from one person to another. After the initial contact with the infection, the virus stays dormant in the body and can reactivate many times in one year. Genital herpes can affect both men and women who make sexual contacts with carriers of HSV or the people having genital herpes. Genital herpes can lead to itching, sores, and pain in the genital area but a person may have no symptoms of genital herpes. In addition, a person can spread the infection even if they are not having any visible sores due to genital herpes. [1]
Although there is no cure for genital herpes but certain medications can help in relieving the symptoms and also decrease the risk of spreading the infection to others. Condoms can very helpful in preventing the transmission of a genital herpes infection. The sexually transmitted infection of genital herpes can result in herpetic sores sometimes, which are painful fluid-filled blisters that can ooze fluid and break open on picking. Almost 16 percent of people between the ages of 14 to 49 years old suffer from genital herpes infection. The main routes or ways of genital herpes causing virus to spread is through anal, oral, and vaginal sex. Sexual health clinics can provide a better treatment for genital herpes patients than a physician. Moreover, women with HIV might suffer from severe herpes outbreaks that last longer than normal.
The symptoms of genital herpes might clear up on their own but recurrence is quite common in the condition of sexually transmitted infections. According to the statistics, around one in every five women in the age group of 14 to 50 years old have the infection of genital herpes and in case of men one in every 10 men suffer from the infection. Medications and preventive measures can help in avoiding the outbreaks and lowering the risk of spread to others. Genital herpes is more common among women than men and the reason behind is that a woman’s body puts her at more risk of getting the infection than a man. Small tear in the tissues of vagina can make it easier to get the virus for genital herpes.
Genital herpes is also much more common among women of African-American ethnicity. One in every two African-American woman between the ages of 14 to 49 years suffers from the HSV-2 infection that leads to genital herpes. Just like other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), genital herpes spreads through skin-to-skin contact. The symptoms of genital herpes might come and got but the virus stays dormant inside your body even after the disappearing of all the symptoms of genital herpes. The outbreaks usually happen in people when the virus becomes active but with time the outbreaks become less severe and occur less often. Experts are still looking for the reason behind the periodic activation of virus in some people which causes genital herpes outbreaks.