Herpes is one of the most common viruses in the world.
It should be seen as an annoying affliction but not a dangerous or dreadful one.
The infection is passes by intimate contact with an infected area.
Because the virus is not sturdy, it dies very quickly outside of the human body.
This means you cannot catch genital herpes from toilet seats, pools, etc.
It is possible to spread the infection from an infected site on your body to another area by touching the sores, then immediately touching your eye, for example.
(Eye infections are rare, but serious.
) But again, you would have to transport the virus very quickly for this to happen.
Simply washing your hands after touching the infected area eliminates this problem.
Half of the people who have genital herpes have either no obvious symptoms or very mild ones.
The classical sequence of events is the occurrence of tiny red pimples that quickly turn into very painful blisters that finally break and look like little red craters and ulcers on the genitals.
They heal completely in days or weeks.
Because the virus stays on the nerve endings even after the sores are gone, the sores may recur if the activity of the virus flares.
The chances of passing the infection on are greatest when the sores are present, and sexual intercourse should definitely be avoided at that time.
Although in adults the infection is not dangerous, it can be devastating to a baby delivered through the vagina at the time if active infection.
If tests show the infection is active around the time of delivery, the baby can be safely delivered by caesarean.