Genital Herpes

Genital herpes is an infection that causes sores or lesions in the genital areas of the body. The sores or lesions are similar to fever blisters that a person might have around the mouth. The sores might hide for a while and then show up again. So a person could have genital herpes without knowing it. It also might be impossible to know just by looking if a person has genital herpes. Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that should be prevented because it has no cure.

The virus that causes herpes is the herpes simplex virus (HSV). There are two kinds of herpes simplex viruses, the one linked to the sores around the mouth (HSV type 1) and the one linked to the sores in genital areas (HSV type 2). Sores around the mouth or lips can be transmitted to the genital areas during oral sex. Sores in genital areas can also be passed to mouth or lips. So both types of viruses are able to cause genital herpes.

Take some time to check out this site on genital herpes. It's packed full of information that can give you the background you need to stay free of genital herpes. When you're finished surfing the site, you can see how much you've learned by taking our interactive quiz

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