A to Z Medical DiseasesPractical Information on Medical Diseases

The perception that oral herpes symptoms and genital herpes symptoms in men are somehow different is due, at least to some extent, to the fact that genital herpes carries a strong social stigma while oral herpes is generally viewed in a less negative light. Nonetheless, because the HSV-1 (responsible for oral herpes) and HSV-2 (the cause of genital herpes) viruses responsible for the two infections are 98% identical at a molecular level, they elicit nearly the identical responses from the body’s immune system. Indeed, it may surprise you to learn just how much sufferers of the two diseases have in common.

Diagnosing genital herpes symptoms in men by simply looking at them is easier said than done for most physicians. The disease’s symptoms often appear similar to those of several other sexually-transmitted diseases and skin conditions, and can vary greatly in severity from one sufferer to another. For example, whereas some men will develop a minor skin irritation (one that resembles any number of other skin conditions) during a breakout, others will exhibit the clusters of fluid-filled blisters commonly associated with the infection.

Despite decades of research into the area, the sources of herpes outbreaks remain something of an enigma. Known as “triggers”, the stimuli responsible for triggering the process of viral shedding in infected individuals is believed to include anything from direct sunlight to certain kinds of foods. Sadly, while hypotheses are plentiful, not much in the form of clinical proof is available.

What is the link between a reported rise in the prevalence of herpes in men and the rise in popularity of pubic shaving and waxing? Some medical service practitioners feel that there is, and recently agreed to a series of interviews to share why they think that the habit of shaving and waxing significantly raises men’s chance of being infected with HSV-2 (genital herpes).

While there are three primary types of tests commonly administered to diagnose cases of herpes in men, only the blood test can claim close to a perfect success rate. Delivering accurate diagnoses in 97% of cases, the blood test is not only reliable in confirming cases where symptoms are present, but is also effective in identifying herpes infections in individuals who have never experienced an outbreak.

Providing an exciting item of news on the struggle against herpes, one of the globe’s foremost research firms recently reported that it might be close to developing a vaccine for the HSV-2 virus that causes the sexually-transmitted disease. U.S. medical manufacturer Agenus Inc. introduced findings from its continuing research study last month demonstrating that its new product, HerpV, successfully prevented the presence of herpes symptoms in men and women who participated. More impressively, the pharmaceutical also seemed to block the virus’ ability to implant itself in a new person.

Can herpes symptoms in men disappear after a period of time? If one considers the nature of herpes virus infections, then the answer is clearly “yes”. It is not unusual at all for infected men to eventually see their symptoms diminish to the point of being undetectable after their immune systems have developed a high enough tolerance to the virus.

Although potentially infected people often ask the question “What does herpes look like?”, what they are really asking is “What does herpes look like during an outbreak?” This clarification is necessary because, in the cases of both the HSV-1 and HSV-2 virus, symptoms of infection are only visible while an outbreak is underway. Furthermore, it is common for infected individuals to sometimes go long periods of time without experiencing an outbreak, or to experience their symptoms differently. These points should be kept in mind as you proceed through this article.

While reading the news over the last couple of days, I stumbled across an article about sexually-transmitted disease screening wherein a health care provider made comments suggesting that it is almost pointless to screen for the herpes simplex virus. Per Dr. Bradley Stoner of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, professional medical testing for the herpes virus is so untrustworthy (providing false negatives at a level greatly surpassing medical tests for other types of STDs) that it’s essentially worthless except when you are already exhibiting chronic outbreaks of sores and lesions. In such cases, the testing would be done purely to confirm that the subject has HSV-2 instead of some other disease. Stoner ended his declaration by saying, “Other than that, I probably would not screen for herpes – the waters are just too murky.”