How contagious is herpes

Herpes is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) and is extremely contagious. There are over 50 million people in the USA with the genital herpes virus, this is 20% of the population. Although there are millions of people who are unaware they have it making the real figure a lot higher. 3 million of these 50 million people suffer recurrent outbreaks of genital herpes as often as four times a year. If the number of people infected with genital herpes continues to grow at the present rate, nearly half of the US adult population will have genital herpes.

If you have visible symptoms of genital herpes, you should not have sexual activity until the blisters have been given some treatment and have suppressed. Genital herpes is more common in women than in men. About 1 in 5 women aged 14 - 49 years will have the virus, as opposed to 1 in 9 men within the same age limit. In rare cases adults and children can be infected indirectly, for instance through the use of an infected towel. Babies can also be infected during delivery.

Condoms do not cover all genital skin, so they don't protect 100%. But may help provide protection to stop the virus been spread to partners. If you have a partner you are sexually active with, there is a strong possibility they have already contracted the HSV virus from you. However only 80% of people who have HSV develop genital herpes.

Not everyone infected with HSV will develop herpes. Some will be infected with a strain that does not produce the blisters/sores, or they will remain asymptomatic (i.e. no blisters will appear) even though the virus is present in their skin. If you have sexual intercourse with someone with the HSV there is a 2 in 3 chance you have contracted the virus. If you have unfortunately contracted the virus then there is a 80% change you will develop genital herpes.

If you have contracted HSV you may not have any visible symptoms yet, as symptoms tend to occur a few months after contraction. Sometimes several years pass without any symptoms. However even without showing any symptoms it still leaves a healthy partner vulnerable to becoming infected during sexual activity.

Unfortunately there is no cure for HSV, and once you are infected you will have it for the rest of your life. However your body can ‘fight it off’ and the virus itself can become dormant for decades and then reappear, but once the sores have formed they typically require treatment.