What do you know about Herpes?
Herpes is a virus that causes painful sores on the mouth and/or private parts. If you are
infected with the virus, it will stay in you for life. The herpes sores come back from time to time, but they may not always be present.
To protect yourself from being infected with herpes, it is important to know if your sexual partners have the virus. Talk about it with your partner.

If you have sex with someone who has the virus (if they have had blisters in the past), reduce skin-to-skin contact with infected areas. While a condom will help protect you, remember that areas not covered by the condom are not protected. The virus can be spread even when there are no sores.

If you touch herpes sores, wash your hands with soap and water to avoid spreading the disease.

How is it spread?
Herpes is spread by skin-to-skin contact with open sores. This often happens during sex. The virus can also be passed from mouth to the private parts, or from the private parts to mouth during oral sex.
Pregnant women should tell their doctor if they have herpes, as measures can be taken to prevent the virus from being passed on to their child at birth. While a condom will help protect you from the herpes virus, remember that body parts that are not covered by the condom are not protected.
If you have herpes, the people you have had sex with will need to know that they could have it too. A public health nurse can talk to you about this and give you more information.

How do I know if I have Herpes?
Physical signs appear anywhere from a few days, to a few years after first contact with the virus. A tingling or itching feeling in the private parts or on the mouth is usually the first sign. Then clusters of small blisters will break out in the infected area, followed by sores that usually last from two to three weeks. The first sores may be accompanied by a headache and fever.

Sores can be inside or near the vagina of a woman, or on the penis or testicles (balls) of a man. Both men and women can have the sores on the bum, thighs or mouth. If you have the sores, it may be painful to pee.
Sharing clothing, toilet seats, bathtubs or swimming pools with infected people, does NOT spread the herpes virus.

How do you test for it and what is the treatment?
If you think you might have herpes, your health care provider will take a swab from an open blister in the infected area. This simple test will tell you if you have the virus.
If you have herpes, eating well, exercising and getting enough sleep will keep you healthy and reduce your number of sores. Your health care provider may give you pills or cream to help ease the pain of the sores, but there is no cure for the herpes virus.