5 Things You Need to Know About Treating Herpes

1. Not a Nice Family

The viruses in the herpes family cause a number of diseases and uncounted misery. All told, there are eight viruses in this group of pathogens. The list of illnesses they cause includes cold sores, shingles, chicken pox, mononucleosis and genital herpes.

2. A Life-long Infection

One of herpes´virus characteristics is that following a primary infection the virus enters what is called a latent phase. During this phase, the virus integrates its genetic material into host cells where it lies dormant indefinitely. Under certain circumstances, the virus is reactivated and produces symptoms similar to those of a primary infection. During this period as well as during the primary infectious stage, the virus may be spread through direct contact. Because a patient with herpes has a life-long infection, genital herpes presents a particularly difficult circumstance, making it one of the world's most common sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

3. Condoms

Both primary and reactivated genital herpes appears as clusters of painful blisters on the vulva, vagina, penis or anus. These active symptoms can continue for days or weeks. Any contact can spread the disease. This includes touching, kissing, vaginal and oral intercourse. One treatment that is highly effective is the use of condoms--barrier protection--during any active phase of the disease. However, while less likely, it is also possible to spread the disease when there are no active lesions. This suggests that condoms should be used at all times by anyone with known disease.

4. No Cure

There is no cure for genital herpes. Regardless what you may read, that simple fact remains unchanged. There are, however, medications that limit the reproduction of the virus and shorten the overall course of an individual attack. The first of these to be released was acyclovir. Valacyclovir and famicyclovir are now also available.

5. Two Uses of the Drugs

There are two ways of using these medications, episodic and suppressive. Episodic treatment requires initiation of a high dose treatment program at the very first sign of an outbreak. These symptoms usually consist of burning, itching or tingling. Suppressive treatment is for patients who have frequent attacks--six being an accepted baseline. These patients take a daily dose of one of the medications, lower than the episodic dose. In many patients, such treatment reduces the frequency of outbreaks.