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Genital herpes spreads by direct skin-to-skin contact. This includes vaginal, oral, or anal sex with someone who has it. Herpes can spread, even when there are no signs of an outbreak.
The herpes cycle
When you’re first infected, the herpes virus enters the body through the skin. It moves to nerves near the bottom of the backbone. There, it goes to “sleep.” It can sleep for days, weeks, or months.
But, from time to time, the virus “wakes up” and goes back to the skin surface. There it “sheds,” making more virus. This waking up and shedding can happen with or without symptoms.
The virus can stay anywhere around the groin. This includes areas that may not be covered by a condom, for example, on your thighs, hips, or buttocks (basically, anywhere covered by boxer shorts).
You can give herpes to others anytime the virus is shedding. This can happen whether or not you have symptoms.
Current treatments can relieve symptoms and even reduce the number of outbreaks. But they don’t cure genital herpes. Genital herpes is a lifelong infection.
How you can and can’t get herpes
You can get genital herpes from these kinds of contact:
- Genital to genital
- Mouth to genital
- Genital to anus
There are no known cases of getting genital herpes from things, like:
- A toilet seat
- A bar of soap
- A towel
- Swimming pools
- Shaking hands
Most cases of herpes are spread when there are no signs or symptoms. That’s one reason why herpes is so common. People usually don’t even know they have it, so they don’t worry about spreading it.
Also of Interest
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