Question:
I am
having genital herpes from last 3 months when symptoms occurred .
How I
got affected with it?
It’s
not hereditary and haven't had any sexual intercourse till date.
From
where did it come in me.
All the
symptoms have cleared. Should I visit a doctor for a general checkup?
Harshit
Answer:
Dear
Harshit,
Genital
herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the herpes
simplex viruses type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2).
It is possible to have a sexually transmitted disease (STD) without
having sexual intercourse.
Few,
if any, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) require actual sexual
intercourse for transmission.
Oral sex can transmit HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), hepatitis
B virus, herpes, genital warts, syphilis and gonorrhea.
Other acts, such as petting, could possibly transmit some of these
infections as well.
Contact
with infected body fluids (particularly blood, semen and vaginal secretions)
is necessary for spreading HIV and hepatitis B.
Therefore,
touching and petting (without ejaculation) would not be likely to
pass these viruses from person to person.
However, the same is not true for genital warts or herpes. Only contact
with the lesion is needed to spread these infections. Have you ever
had a yeast infection before?
If you have never had sex, or never even close to having sex then
I would not think it is an STD, but yeast infections can cause a rash
and red irritated skin.
In many cases, a doctor or nurse may suspect genital herpes just by
looking. They will want to confirm this by taking a swab of fluid
from the infected area, if they can. They may gently break a blister
to get a sample of the fluid inside. The swab will then be sent to
the laboratory and the result will usually
be known within 1–2 weeks.
A swab looks a bit like a cotton bud, but is smaller and rounded.
It sometimes has a small plastic loop on the end rather than a cotton
tip. It is wiped over the parts of the body that could be infected
and easily picks up samples of fluid. This only takes a few seconds
and may sting for a moment if the blisters and sores are tender.
There is a specific blood test that can be done to look for antibodies
to the virus. This is not used as a routine test for genital herpes.
It is
not essential to have treatment as genital herpes will clear up by
itself.
However, prompt treatment at the start of an episode can be a great
help – it can reduce the time the outbreak lasts, help the healing
process and can reduce the risk of you passing the virus on to someone
else.
