Spreading Herpes
More Resources for Living with Herpes
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The reality of herpes is that it has no cure, can be spread to your loved one or other sexual partners if you aren't careful, can have emotional consequences, can cause fatalities for babies during childbirth, and can make people more vulnerable to HIV. Genital herpes can cause recurrent painful genital sores in many adults, and herpes infection can be severe in people with suppressed immune systems.
Regardless of severity of symptoms, genital herpes frequently causes psychological distress in people who know they are infected. Herpes may play a role in the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS because of the open sores. Herpes can make people more susceptible to HIV infection, and it can make HIV-infected individuals more infectious.
Survivors may be interested in counseling for herpes which can alert them to other options. Support groups are also helpful. You can start or join one on TSC and connect with other individuals surviving genital herpes or find a local in-person group.
Genital herpes can lead to potentially fatal infections in babies. It is important that women avoid contracting herpes during pregnancy because a newly acquired infection during late pregnancy poses a greater risk of transmission to the baby. If a woman has active genital herpes at delivery, a cesarean delivery is usually performed. Fortunately, infection of a baby from a woman with herpes infection is rare.
If you are infected with genital herpes, it is your responsibility to prevent it from spreading to others. Persons with herpes should abstain from sexual activity with uninfected partners when lesions or other symptoms of herpes are present. It is important to know that even if a person does not have any symptoms he or she can still infect sex partners. Sex partners of infected persons should be advised that they may become infected and they should use condoms to reduce the risk. Sex partners can seek testing to determine if they are infected with HSV. A positive HSV-2 blood test most likely indicates a genital herpes infection.
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