Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease that affects tens of millions of Americans ages twelve and older.  It is commonly caused by a virus called HSV-2 and is characterized by the development of sores, blisters or ulcers in or around the genital area and the rectum.

Genital Herpes is extremely contagious.  To make matters worse, some people infected with the illness may not know about their infection when they transmit the disease.    Although transmission usually occurs through sexual contact or skin to skin contact with exposed sores, a person infected with HSV-2  can transmit the disease even if he or she does not have any visible sores.

A person infected with the disease typically suffers from the outbreak of blisters which eventually break leaving exposed and tender ulcers.  These sores take two to four weeks to heal during the first time that they occur.  Outbreaks may occur periodically but reduce in frequency and intensity over the years.  For males, these sores typically appear on the shaft of the penis, the inner thigh, buttocks or the anus.  Females usually develop sores on or near the pubis, labia, clitoris, vulva, buttocks and anus. 

An outbreak of genital herpes is usually preceded by an itching or burning sensation in the infected area.  Other symptoms include discharge from the penis or vagina, fever, headache, muscle pain, enlarged lymph nodes, and malaise.  Women often suffer the additional symptoms of painful urination and cervicitis. 

Besides the painful sores, herpes can lead to potentially fatal infections in infants although infection from a mother to her child is rare.  When women contract genital herpes during pregnancy, a caesarean delivery is performed in order to avoid contact with the highly infectious open sores present in the vagina.

There is currently no cure for genital herpes.  The best that physicians can do is to treat the symptoms and to lessen its frequency and intensity.   The best cure is still prevention.  This means, abstaining from sexual contact with a person who has been infected with herpes.  The use of a condom can reduce the risk of infection.  It should be kept in mind however that not all persons capable of transmitting the disease show symptoms of genital herpes.