MistressDREAD
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♥♫♥٭♥♫♥٭♥♫♥٭HERPES Medical Health Issues and Information♥♫♥٭♥♫♥٭♥♫♥٭
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HERPES - Genital HSV infection is a common sexually transmitted disease with substantial psychosexual impact. A minimum standard of health care is to establish a diagnosis by examination and the taking of a swab for virus detection. Provision should be made for counselling and the potential benefits of antiviral drug management need to be discussed. Clinicians should be aware that patients require accurate information as soon as possible, and should provide written information for patients to take away. As with any other STD is advisable to obtain appropriate specimens for the diagnosis of other genital infections.Virus can be shed subclinically and transmitted between clinically apparent recurrences. Patients with unrecognised, mild, atypical or undiagnosed infection can shed and transmit HSV, as can those people who are truly asymptomatic.
Genital herpes is under-diagnosed — of people with genital herpes simplex virus infection only 1 in 5 are diagnosed and is at whats concidered by the world health orignazation as epidemic in the industrialized societies. Only a minority of patients with genital herpes present with classical symptoms and signs Atypical manifestations are frequently misdiagnosed or not recognised. An example that is commonly quoted is the confusion between recurrent candidiasis in the female, and recurrent genital herpes. Lesions that are not physically on the genitals themselves may be manifestations of genital herpes — for example, lesions on the buttock, lower back or thighs. As a general rule, when a patient presents with an infection below the waist, the clinician should consider genital herpes as a possible diagnosis.How should genital herpes be diagnosed? Patients who have lesions and who have not been diagnosed previously should have a swab taken, preferably from a recently erupted lesion. What does a positive test result indicate? It indicates that the patient has genital herpes, and needs counselling and perhaps antiviral drug management. However, a positive test result does not indicate when and therefore from whom the infection was acquired. A negative test result does not exclude the diagnosis of genital herpes; a variety of factors could explain a negative result including a delay in transporting the swab to the laboratory, a poorly taken swab or a swab taken too long after the lesions erupted.Not all genital herpes is caused by HSV type 2. Virus type has some prognostic value because type 2 tends to recur more frequently than type 1. Where it is available, typing may be considered appropriate and can be done on the swab used for diagnosis.All patients diagnosed with genital herpes should be told that recurrences can be prevented and offered oral antiviral therapy. Before patients begin therapy, whether it is episodic or suppressive (preventative), they need to have their own set of objectives for what they want to accomplish from therapy. Reduction of asymptomatic shedding is a reasonable objective.
Transmission
A key issue for many patients who have this disease is transmission. A recent study has shown that suppressive valaciclovir treatment can reduce the transmission of genital herpes in discordant couples.Those patients who have recurrences need to be given the information that recurrences and asymptomatic shedding can be prevented and that valaciclovir may reduce the risk of transmission to seronegative partners.
HERPES
Why Tell A Partner?
Some people don’t tell, or don’t tell every partner. Some don’t tell until after they’ve had sex. It’s important that herpes does not become a secret--for many reasons.
Once you and your partner know the facts, you may find your views changing.
Telling your partner allows this person to make an informed choice. When you tell, you are showing respect and concern for his or her well being. Your honesty may build intimacy and trust.
Telling your partner helps prevent transmitting herpes. If you keep herpes a secret, you might invent lies and half-truths to postpone sex during outbreaks. And, you give your partner a shared stake in making decisions together about how to reduce risk.
Telling your partner can begin an important discussion about sexual health. Herpes is one of over 20 sexually transmitted infections. Others have more serious health consequences. Your honesty encourages your partner to share sexual history and health information with you.
Telling your partner can prevent future misunderstandings or threat of legal action.
Local HELP (Support) Groups
The Herpes Resource Center (HRC) has an affiliated network of local support (HELP) groups for people concerned about herpes simplex virus. The groups provide a safe, confidential environment where participants can get accurate information and share experiences, fears, and feelings with others who are concerned about herpes. For information on obtaining written publications on the herpes simplex virus, call the National Herpes Hotline at (919) 361-8488. What herpes looks like. [[[[[Atypical genital herpes in a woman who presented with multiple episodes of dysuria click]]]]]
[[[[[Classical crusted lesions of genital herpes affecting the penis. Click]]]]]
H E R P E S . S I M P L E X
Herpes simplex on the cheek of a baby who got it from mom at birth. Note the blistery appearance.
Herpes on the penis (left) and vagina (right). Most often, the erupted blisters will be red.
Cause: herpes simplex virus (HSV). There are two types, virus type I and II. Type I generally is found on the lips, and type II is found more often on the genitalia, but the two viruses can easily infect any mucous membranes (see below).
Incubation Period: 5 to 10 days, but rarely longer than four weeks. If you get infected, you'll see the symptoms pretty soon.
Transmission: Herpes can be passed pretty easily, depending on how good your health is. The easiest way to get it is by intimate skin contact between the affected partner's skin and your own bare skin. Thus, oral contact of any type can transmit it: kissing, blow jobs, going down on a woman, and rimming (oral-anal contact). Any time there is direct skin contact with an open sore, there is a chance of infection.
Transmission can also occur by secondary contact. This is pretty hard to do, though. Sometimes people with sores on their genitals can spread the disease with their hand to their eyes or mouth by autoinnoculation. Hand-washing is thus important if you have herpes.
Finally, some people who have herpes can pass it on even if you can't see any sores. The best way to find out if your sex partner has it is to ask them!
What to Look For: Herpes is pretty common. When it's found around the lips, it's called cold sores. They can also occur on the perineum, the anus, penis, vagina, and eyes. These are the most common places. However, it can happen almost anywhere on your body if the infection is spread there. If you have a herpes outbreak on your hand, for example, it is probably because you had a cut on your hand that came into direct contact with some herpes sores. On the hands, it's called "herpetic whitlow."
Outbreaks of herpes can occur several times a year, brought on by stress, sunlight, or sickness. Other people find that certain foods can bring on an outbreak; some examples are peanuts, coffee, alcohol...if you have cold sores or genital herpes, you may have noticed that they break out more when you've eaten certain foods. It's different for every person.
When outbreaks occur, there is at first a burning, itching sensation with redness in the affected area. In a day, painful, red grape-like clusters of fluid-filled blisters appear. In one to three weeks, these scab over and heal up, leaving a red scar that goes away with time. Then the vius becomes latent and hides in your body until the next time it decides to come out.
In the vagina, there may be some discharge. Herpes lesions here are difficult to see if they are far inside the vagina. However, the itching and burning sensations are present, along with feelings of pressure in the genital area. In some cases, women won't even know they have herpes.
In men and women, if the blisters are inside the hole that piss comes out of (the urethra), there may be pain when you pee.
Treatment: There is a common saying that "Herpes is for Life." Herpes can be treated, but it can not be cured. There is medication you can get to make the blistering and pain less severe, but once you get herpes, you'll have it forever. It can stay latent for a long time, though. In a few people, the sores never appear again after the first time, but this is rare. Medication can also make the sores go away faster, and make it so that you have them less times per year. Acyclovir is the name of one drug, and it is especially important for people who get herpes outbreaks a lot. There is also an amino acid you can buy at health food stores called "Lysine." If you take this everyday, it's supposed to prevent outbreaks. This hasn't been proved to be true, though.
If this is your first outbreak, you have roughly 48 hours to get some medication that could possibly 'cure' you. Your doctor will tell you that some medications can prevent herpes from ever coming back if the medicaiton is given early enough.
Contact your health provider as soon as you think you may have gotten an STD; the sooner you are treated, the better your chances of recovery, and it is less likely you will get complications. Also, have your partners checked out, and stop having sex until you get better. Otherwise, you and your partners could keep passing the disease back and forth to each other.
Complications: Some people experience fever, swollen glands, headaches (from a condition called "meningitis"), and backaches. This is if they have severe reactions to herpes. Sometimes there is pain so intense that a person can't even sleep. The pain can "shoot" down the legs or can be felt in nearby parts of the body. People who have very very weak immune systems (like people with AIDS), can have reactions this severe, where the blisters spread all over the body and outbreak may last for months.
If there are herpes lesions on the buttocks, shitting (defecating) can be really painful. You cannot have sex if you're having an outbreak because it's very painful. And you wouldn't want to risk passing the disease on to anybody else, anyway.
Herpes in women can be passed on to babies. This is a big problem because babies have weak immune systems. The herpes virus likes to infect cells of the nervous system, like the brain, and so babies who get it at birth often die. It's VERY important to get prenatal care if you're a pregnant woman with herpes. Also, if a pregnant woman has an outbreak near her cervix, the herpes virus can kill the fetus (the developing baby) while it is inside her.
It has also been found that if herpes is on a woman's cervix (at the end of the vagina), this puts her at higher risk of getting cancer there. But really doesn't happen as much as it does for warts. If cancer isn't watched closely and treated, it can kill.
Having an open sore makes it easier for secondary or opportunistic infections to happen. This is especially true for HIV, which can easily get into your body if your skin is broken. Also, if you have HIV and an open herpes sore, then you are more likely to transmit HIV to another person
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