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Symptoms for Genital Herpes
Symptoms for genital herpes are different depending upon whether it is a primary herpes infection, which occurs 2 to 3 weeks after the first contact with herpes, or a recurrent infection. Genital herpes symptoms can also vary according the type of herpes virus. Herpes virus-1 genital herpes causes 30% less recurrences than herpes simplex virus -2 genital herpes, and usually has much milder symptoms. Symptoms for genital herpes can be so mild that they feel like a painless skin rash or so painful that a painkiller is necessary. First episode symptoms for genital herpes:First episode symptoms for genital herpes tend to be quite intense. They usually take place 2 to 3 weeks after first contact. They may include flu-like symptoms, muscle or backache, itching, burning, swelling and swollen lymph nodes in or around the genital area. Women often experience vaginal discharge. Sometimes the entire genitalia are red and swollen, or small red bumps appear before turning into small blisters. Blisters then turn into sores that crust over and then return to normal skin. Genital herpes may be lethal to newborn babies or people with impaired immunity. However, first episode symptoms for genital herpes often go unnoticed and only a recurrent genital herpes outbreak, sometimes years later, gets diagnosed. This is often the case with people who already have HSV-1 oral herpes and had a chance to create some form of immunity to genital herpes before entering in contact with the virus. Symptoms of genital herpes recurrent outbreaks:Outbreaks may remain severe during the first year and then usually recede to the point of being hardly detectable. Symptoms for genital herpes recurrences are often much milder than those of the first episode. Most of the time, the virus can reactivate and cause genital herpes outbreaks several times a year. Genital herpes moves from the sacral ganglion through the nerve paths to the skin. It tends to use the same path over and over and reappears at the same spot. But from personal experience, I have noticed that if genital herpes was defeated in one spot, it will infect another one. It may also move away from the genital area and appear in the thighs or the buttocks. Symptoms for genital herpes outbreaks tend to be much milder but may still include blisters, sores, muscle ache, headaches, flu-like symptoms and vaginal discharge. They tend to be more severe when the immune system is depressed either by long-term stress or another disease. In women, a shift in hormonal balance could trigger more severe genital herpes outbreaks. That's why women are often more likely to get genital herpes outbreaks before or during their periods. After
the first two years following genital herpes primary infection,
symptoms tend to become quite sporadic and extremely mild. That's
when they become very hard to detect. They may consist of only a
red spot or some itchiness or
tiny ulcerations. Sometimes, the genital herpes
virus becomes active but doesn't cause any detectable symptoms.
This is often referred to as shedding. When this happens, people
are not aware of it, but the virus has silently moved down their
nerve paths and into the skin, maybe in the hopes of infecting another
host. This is generally when transmission occurs. Symptoms
for genital herpes conclusion: Common genital herpes is
easily definable in a text book sense, but genital herpes takes
many shapes and is likely to be confused with other ailments. For
example, blisters, even though they are often recognized as one
of the major sign of herpes, may never appear and female genital
herpes symptoms could just consist of thick vaginal discharge and
vaginal odor. It may then be confused with vaginal yeast. You'll
find here a list of other
diseases that look like genital herpes.
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