Learn how herpes is spread and reduce
your chances of spreading or catching herpes
How is Herpes Spread?
Genital Herpes is most easily spread when a sore is present, but, it is also often spread at other times too. Some people notice itching, tingling or other sensations before they see anything on their skin.
These are called "Prodromal Symptoms" and they warn that the virus may be present on the skin. Genital Herpes is most likely to be spread from the time prodomal symptoms are noticed until the area is completely healed and the skin looks normal again. Contact with the infected area (including oral, vaginal, or anal contact) is very risky during this time.
One kind of complication
involves spreading the virus from the location of a herpes outbreak to other places on
the body by touching the herpes lesions. The fingers, eyes, and other body areas can
accidentally become infected in this way.
Preventing self-infection sounds simple.....just avoid touching the herpes lesions during a genital herpes outbreak. However, since herpes lesions typically itch when healing, not touching is a challenge.
Get in the habit of disinfecting your hands on waking in the morning whenever you have an outbreak.
If you do make contact with herpes lesions douring an outbreak, wash your hands as
soon as possible with soap and warm water, or use hand sanitizer. This will help prevent the virus from
spreading further.
The spreading of genital herpes through inanimate objects, such as soap, towels, clothing, bed sheets, toilet seats, and spa surfaces is highly unlikely because the herpes simplex virus cannot live very long outside of the body.
Herpes is not spread through vaginal fluids, blood or semen, or like a flu virus
that you can get through the air, although it is of course possible for the body fluids to contact
the virus during intimacy and so they can contain the virus that way.
As a rule, genital herpes is generally spread by direct contact - in other words, by touching a herpes lesion. However, it is possible for the virus to be transmitted even when no lesion is present, during the predomal symptom phase.
Genital Herpes can be spread by the following situations:
- Kissing, touching and caressing infected areas.
- Sexual contact with the infected area or during prodomal symptoms if virus is active on surface of skin (vaginally, orally or anally)
- Skin-to-skin contact with the infected area can transmit HSV-1 (oral herpes) and HSV-2 (genital herpes)
- Kissing someone if you have a cold sore (oral herpes, or HSV-1) can transfer the virus and the person you kiss can then contract herpes in the area kissed
- The virus can be transmitted to your partner if you have active genital herpes and are sexually intimate with that person
- If you have a cold sore and put your mouth on a partner's genitals, the partner can be infected with HSV-1 on the genitals. Conversely, someone with HSV-2 could pass that strain to the face of their partner through oral contact. Consequently, oral sexual activity should be avoided if one partner has a facial or genital herpes outbreak.
- Occasionally, one partner in a long-term relationship may develop symptoms of herpes for the first time. Often this is due to one or both of the partners being carriers of HSV and not knowing it
- HSV-2 can be passed from mother to baby during pregnancy or at birth, especially if there is an active outbreak when the baby is being born.
Now that you know how herpes is spread....learn how it is stopped
Get the herpes combat kit here and use at first sign of prodomal symptoms
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