I understand that there
was something stated regarding herpes on The View which aired on Friday,
February 13, 2004. Society seriously needs to get an education.
Unfortunately, in the mid 80s when some education was becoming
available, herpes took a back seat to HIV, which is fatal. Herpes in an
extremely rare cases, can be fatal. Permit me to emphasize extremely
rare. It amazes me that cold sores are acceptable, shingles are
acceptable, but genital herpes is not.
I deeply believe people need to get a grip on the reality of herpes.
I would truly love to educate and have tried to educate those that are
less knowledgeable about the subject. The ridicule one can get is
horrendous.
Say Jane has a cold sore and has oral sex with her husband, boyfriend
or lover, John. Bingo... Chances are very extremely high that John is
going to get herpes genitally, whichever type Jane has, Herpes Virus
Type 1 or 2. Same thing goes if the roles are reversed. John can give it
to Jane.
Janice, on the other hand, each time she has an outbreak she relives
a rape. Her rapist had herpes and passed it on to her. She being a
responsible adult tells a prospective partners she has herpes, risking
further condemnation and ridicule.
The young school child can get it from another classmate or playmate
(cold sores - if you have ever gotten a cold sore in your life then you
have oral herpes).
The young child that only knows she
or he hurts and hurts badly because
she or he was a victim of incest. Yes, there are people with herpes that
acquired it through incest.
The faithful husband or wife who acquired the virus from their
trusted partner who cheated on their spouse.
There is even a chance of auto-transference (self-transmission), cold
sores and masturbation. Herpes is a skin virus contracted from skin to
skin contact and can survive of brief periods of time in the proper
environment.
The infant that contracted it from birth because mom unknowingly had
herpes. This does not mean you can not have healthy children with
herpes. You can!
For the sake of this letter, I am referring to "herpes" as the oral
and genital. There are several types of herpes; small pox, monkey pox,
zoster (shingles), chicken pox, genital, oral, whitlow (which occurs on
the extremities, hands and fingers), and others. They all belong to the
Varicella Viral Family.
Many people can get associate oral herpes is Herpes Virus Type 1
(HSVI), and the Herpes Virus Type 2 (HSVII) is genital. This is
incorrect, the only way to know which type you have orally or genitally
is through a swab culture. Both HSVI and HSVII can be located in either
place. The reason both are often confused is that HSVI thrives better in
the oral environment then it does genitally, yet can and is found
genitally. The same goes for HSVII which can be found orally the virus
thrives in the genital environment much better. It is the RNAM which
transfers into the DNA the type of HSV, not the location.
There is a false sense of security that condoms will protect one from
contracting and STD. Not so, it only lowers the risk. Now, setting all
of that aside, there are also people who are asymptomatic (have no
symptoms). They have herpes and don't even realize it, unknowingly pass
it to a partner.
Many have herpes and don't even KNOW they have herpes. An STD panel
will not test for herpes. There are several blood tests available to
confirm this. The Western Blot - Herpes Specific is 98% accurate in its
test results. A swab culture is 99% accurate when blister or sores are
tested. There are no 100% accurate lab tests for anything, this the way
of the scientific community to leave a marginal room for error.
Recurrent yeast infection, is it? I wonder how many doctors dismiss a
herpes outbreak as a non-specific yeast infection, and don't do a
culture. How many doctors do not culture a severe non-specific yeast
infection and diagnose it as herpes. Can that happen? You bet your
bottom dollar it has. There are people out there that think they have
herpes and don't.
The honesty and courage it takes to risk
telling someone about having
herpes and the fear of rejection is phenomenal. Herpes is more
psychologically damaging than it is physically. Many withdraw from
dating and living life to its fullest just from the shame factor and
fears of rejection. Thankfully there are now wonderful support groups,
websites, chat rooms which many of us still are trying to get the word
out to others exist. Educationally there are sites such as the American
Social Health Association and other
resources can be located on the web if one does a computer search. The
information is available out there, as well as resources for support and
in managing herpes.
