subject: The First Symptoms Don't Lie: When is Herpes Testing Required? [print this page] The First Symptoms Don't Lie: When is Herpes Testing Required?
Few things are less appealing to a prospective mate than an individual in the throes of a full-blown herpes outbreak. Let's face itit's just not sexy. Herpes is a treatable AND preventable disease but one needs to arm themselves with the facts before they can get a hold of this bad boy. If symptoms are present, then herpes testingis definitely required.
The Basics
What are we dealing with here? Herpes is a disease caused by a virus. A virus is a tiny organism that gets into our cells and disrupts their normal functioning.
There are exactly eight different varieties of the herpes virus, these include Epstein-Barr and Shingles, but for our purposes we are interested in just two of them: Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and Herpes Simplex Virus 2. In this day and AIDS, er age, the two herpes simplexes are not exactly black & white, yet they are still classified as follows
HSV1 is the virus that is typically associated by cold sores on and around the lips and mouth.
HSV2 is the virus that is typically associated with genital herpes. That is, cold sores on and around the privates.
In the United States approximately 55% of persons over the age of fourteen display HSV 1 infection when their blood is tested. The percentage of people who test positive for HSV 2 is over 20% Although this is a dramatically lower number than those testing positive for HSV 1, it is still an eye opening and disturbing number. Quite simply, it should raise red flags as to the need for herpes testing.
The Symptoms
First let us define a Primary Outbreak. This is an outbreak occurring in an individual that has no earlier exposure to either of the simplexes. There are two ways that a primary outbreak can manifest itself. The first is with NO SYMPTOMS at all. This is disturbingly common. The second type of symptoms familiar to a Primary Outbreak will include entire body involvement. These obvious symptoms will include aching bones and joints, headache, fatigue, fever, leg pain and general flu-like symptoms.
A sign that the immune system is doing its best to stave off the infection are enlarged lymph nodes in the groin area. They may swell up and feel like hard but tender peas under the skin.
Unfortunately, the bad news does not stop here. Painful urination, itching, and a discharge from either the penis or the vagina can also occur.
Sores can appear in the mouth and/or around the genitals. These sores often begin as blisters and break open forming a painful ulcer in their place.
Needless to say, symptoms like these are not subtle. If you are currently sleeping with one or more partners you owe it to yourself to acquire herpes testing. The test is simple and accurate and will alert you to your status, thereby allowing you to either breath free or prompting you to get medicine to control your outbreaks and keep you from infecting others.
