There is no treatment that can eliminate the herpes virus from the body. Once you're infected, it will stay in your body, even if you never have another episode. An episode of oral herpes will go away on its own, usually within a week or so. Once you're infected, the virus stays with you forever and there's currently no cure.
However, proper management and treatment will help make living with HSV-1 much easier. There is no cure for genital herpes. However, there are medications that can prevent or shorten outbreaks. A daily anti-herpetic medication may reduce your chances of transmitting the infection to your sexual partner (s).
Genital herpes can cause painful genital sores and can be serious in people with weakened immune systems. Most people with oral herpes get it during childhood or early adulthood through non-sexual contact with saliva. Sometimes, a herpes infection can affect other parts of the body, such as the eyes or other parts of the skin. Avoiding known triggers, such as illness or stress, can help reduce the frequency of herpes outbreaks.
Neonatal herpes (at birth) puts a baby at risk of blindness, brain damage, skin infections, and death. While the specific triggers that cause oral herpes to return are not clear, several factors may play a role. HSV-1 often causes oral herpes, which can cause cold sores or fever blisters in or around the mouth. If you have genital herpes, you may need to take antiherpetic medicines toward the end of your pregnancy.
Oral herpes is an infection of the mouth, tongue and gums caused by the herpes simplex virus, specifically HSV-1.If this is your first infection, you may not test positive for herpes if it hasn't been long enough for your body to develop antibodies. The best way to prevent oral herpes from spreading to others is to avoid sharing items such as cups, straws, eating utensils, toothbrushes and pipes. Since oral herpes is spread through direct physical contact, the best prevention method is to avoid physical contact with a person's herpetic sores when an outbreak occurs. People who have open sores due to genital herpes are twice as likely to get HIV compared to people without herpes.
Once you have the herpes virus, it stays in your nerve cells forever, even if you never have symptoms. However, with appropriate management, self-care and prevention strategies, oral herpes shouldn't affect your life in a major way. Having both HIV and genital herpes increases the chance of transmitting HIV to an HIV-negative partner during oral, vaginal, or anal sex.
