Genital Herpes Signs and Symptoms
Many patients have no symptoms. But there may be flu-like symptoms in 2-20 days after infection.
Lesions with fluid inside appear on the genitals, anus, buttocks and related areas are the some kind of alarm that you are infected.
Lesions are painful and usually appear in clusters. They can be found inside the vigine, on the cervix and in the rectum.
Before crusting over and healing, lesions break open and ooze for a several days. The first symptoms are severe and can last for 3 weeks or so.
Symptoms can disappear when the virus recedes to the nerve cells near the sacral region of the spine and stays latent until revivified by a trigger. New sores erupt when the virus travels down the nerve cell to the skin.
Many people feel itching, tingling, or increased sensitivity and tenderness in the infected area several hours before the sores occur. Some feel pain in their buttocks or knees.
Relapsing symptoms may be repeated and severe, lasting about a week. Most patients say that they feel a decrease in the intensity of symptoms and duration of outbreaks by lapse of time.
Diagnosis Genital Herpes
Though herpes lesions can be vividly ssen, a probe swabbed out or scraped from a lesion is cultured and examined with a microscope to discern the virus from other disease-producing microorganisms (e.g., syphilis, chancroid). A blood test can distinguish between HSV-1 and HSV-2 and diagnosticate proteins that fight infection to the virus (antibodies), which are present throughout outbreak.
Genital Herpes Prevention
Sex partners should be examined and tested as soon as symptoms of primary herpes appear.