The herpes virus causes both cold sores and genital herpes, depending on where it enters the body. Because there is no cure for herpes, an infected person carries the virus for life. Herbal treatments have attracted attention as a natural, inexpensive option for decreasing the duration or severity of herpes symptoms. However, they do not replace conventional medical treatment for herpes or any other condition and people who consider using them should discuss this decision with their health care providers.
Dimethyl sulfoxide, commonly abbreviated DMSO, is an industrial solvent with a controversial history as a medical treatment for a wide range of health conditions, including herpes. While some laboratory findings hint that DMSO ...
Oral herpes, which spreads through saliva, is characterized by the presence of red sores, known as cold sores, around the mouth. Genital herpes, which is transmitted through sexual contact, causes lesions around the genitals an...
Herpes is a group of viruses that can cause painful blisters and sores. Commonly, these sores occur on the lips, in the mouth or around the sexual organs. These viruses are the leading cause of viral illness, second only to the...
For healthy adults and children, Corey says that herpes is usually more annoying than serious. Vitamin treatment may be a reasonable option for some people with herpes. However, start by talking to your doctor.
Pharmaceutical antiviral medications can help suppress herpes outbreaks and lessen their severity. Similarly, Chinese herbal treatments work to strengthen the body's defenses against outbreaks. If you suspect you have herpes, t...
The Balches and other herbal medicine proponents believe that certain herbs may help reduce the effects of the herpes simplex virus.
Talk to your doctor before taking herbs to treat herpes. Herbal remedies should not replac...
There are more than 90 types of herpes viruses, according to Dr. James Balch and Phyllis Balch, authors of "Prescription for Nutritional Healing." However, only four types are likely to affect humans -- varicella-zoster is a vi...
Herpes can be passed from one sexual partner to another even when the infected partner has no symptoms. Barrier methods such as condoms do not cover all possible areas of infection and cannot completely prevent transmission. S...
Human herpes virus 6 was discovered in 1986 and later identified as the cause of roseola. Roseola is a mild infection that generally affects children sometime before the age of 2. It is very common, so common that most children...
In fact, the disease is so common, says University of Washington Professor Lawrence Corey, M.D., in the 2008 edition of "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine," that 90 percent of Americans test positive for the virus that...
Herpes on the mouth is medically referred to as herpes labialis. The condition, commonly known as cold sores or fever blisters, is most often caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1. Early symptoms include itching and tinglin...
Some people may suffer no symptoms upon transmission, while others have severe outbreaks. The virus may lie dormant for years before an outbreak occurs, making it difficult to pinpoint the cause of infection. Though no cure exi...
HSV-1 enters the body through contact with a person infected with it by kissing or sharing personal items such as a fork. No known cure exists for herpes and the virus can cause outbreaks around the mouth triggered by stress, i...
The virus thrives on the soft tissue around the mouth and may also appear on the gums or inner part of the lip. The sores usually appear weeks after an individual is exposed to herpes simplex virus. There is no cure for herpes;...
However, there are two key differences: with herpes zoster, pain is more prominent than itching and the rash usually strikes just one side of the body. Chicken pox follows the opposite pattern. Although herpes zoster, like chic...
Whitely endorses topical application of aluminum acetate solution as a safe, natural treatment for herpes zoster and its characteristic skin rash, shingles. Discovered in the 19th century by ophthalmologist Karl August Burow, a...
HSV-1 typically infects the lips, mouth, eyes or face. HSV-2 is generally but not always sexually-transmitted, and typically affects the mouth or genital areas. Symptoms vary according to the location of the infection resulting...
Herpes 1, also called herpes simplex virus-1, is the primary cause of oral herpes, also called cold sores. However, oral herpes can also be caused by herpes simplex virus-2, the primary cause of genital herpes. Once an individu...
Herpes occurs in about one in five women of ages 14 to 49 in America, and in about one in nine men in that age range, notes The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Herpes can cause ongoing episodes of genital blisters. ...
Herpes simplex infections are characterized by the appearance of small red vesicles, either singularly or in clusters, on the mouth, lips, genitals or in the eyes. A 2004 study estimates that 20 to 40 percent of the U.S. popula...
Herpes, a sexually transmitted disease, may cause painful sores in the genital area before going dormant for days, weeks, months or years. In some people, the disease recurs at unpredictable times with similar symptoms to the p...
The American Academy of Dermatology points out that while HSV-2, the other type of herpes simplex virus, causes genital sores more often, some patients with HSV-1 have genital sores as well. If the sores from HSV-1 are mild, pa...
There are three main types of ocular herpes infection: herpes keratitis, or a surface corneal infection; stromal keratitis, or an infection deeper inside of the cornea; and uveitis, which is located inside of the eye. Treatment...
The American Academy of Dermatology define shingles as a condition affecting primarily adults over the age of 50--with cases in children being quite rare but possible. While most physicians prescribe medications for the virus a...
Genital herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus, specifically herpes simplex 2, and is primarily spread through sexual contact. Oral herpes, which typically appears as cold sores or conjunctivitis, is caused by herpes sim...
Herpes zoster reactivation--commonly known as the shingles--is a painful and distressing disease suffered by 1.1 million people per year in the United States who had chicken pox in the past, according to the federal Agency for ...
Ocular herpes, also referred to as herpes keratitis, occurs when the virus enters the eye. Symptoms of ocular herpes include redness, pain, blurred vision and sensitivity to light. The active virus can go into remission and re...
Shingles, or herpes zoster, is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the chickenpox virus. Once an individual comes down with chickenpox, the virus remains dormant in nerve tissues near the spinal cord and brain. MayoClinic.com...
Herpes zoster causes skin redness, itching, tingling and a painful blistering rash. Several pharmaceutical treatments are available by prescription or over-the-counter, in addition to effective home remedies, that may be used t...
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) exists in two forms, type 1 and type 2. HSV-1 tends to cause oral herpes while HSV-2 causes genital herpes, but both types can be found in either location, according to the American Social Health Asso...
Women with herpes experience life-long, intermittently recurring outbreaks. While herpes is not typically life-threatening, pregnant women who have active lesions do run the risk of transmitting the virus to their unborn baby. ...
People who experience recurrent herpes outbreaks can benefit by taking oral antiviral treatment; outbreaks are briefer and more comfortable for those who do. According to "Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A Physician Tells You Wh...
Symptoms include recurring outbreaks of painful blisters and sores, difficulty urinating and discharge from the vagina or penis, as well as swollen lymph nodes. There is no cure for herpes simplex 2; however, treatment options ...
Around 400,000 people have had at least one case of ocular herpes, and 50,000 people have a new or recurring infection each year. Approximately 50 percent of people who have ocular herpes once will have a recurrence of the inf...
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "one out of six people 14 to 49 years of age have genital HSV-2 infection." There are two forms of herpes simplex virus: HSV-1 and HSV-2. Cold sores typically de...
According to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, systemic agents are the most effective treatments for herpes. However, for people who are unable to tolerate systemic agents, three topical herpes treatments have been al...
Although there is no cure for herpes, oral medications are available to treat initial outbreaks and recurrences, and to help prevent future outbreaks. Prescription and over-the-counter topical treatments offer another effective...
Herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus, which can infect the mucous membranes of the mouth and of the genitalia. Herpes causes small painful sores in these areas. It is typically spread by skin-on-skin contact, although i...
The herpes virus does not have a cure but there are many ways to treat the symptoms. The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMM) points out that while some treatments are effective in reducing symptoms when applied during t...
One form of herpes, called herpes labialis, typically effects the oral cavity. Because the herpes virus can hide inside cells indefinitely, it cannot be cured. As a result, most herpes treatments work to limit outbreaks and mak...
Although there is no cure for herpes, antiviral medications can reduce the frequency and duration of herpes outbreaks. Medications are available to treat oral and genital herpes outbreaks caused by both herpes simplex virus typ...
Less common herpes zoster or "shingles" is an activation of dormant chickenpox that can occur years after the initial bout with chickenpox. Shingles appear as sores and blisters around the chest and neck when a person is very r...
Modern mainstream medicine offers nothing that can cure herpes. The best it can do is provide relief of symptoms--which typically include sores on the lips or genital area. Stinging, burning and itching are the most common comp...
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, monon...
Researchers originally hoped that some of the medications used to treat herpes, with special emphasis on acyclovir, would reduce the chance of the person being treated from getting HIV from another person during sexual interco...
