Genital herpes is one the most common sexually transmitted disease that is caused by the herpes simplex virus. The herpes simplex virus is a double stranded DNA virus that belongs to the herpesviridae family (Garland 2014). There are two classification of this virus, the HSV-1 and HSV-2. The HSV-2 is the type that usually causes genital herpes, but there has been an increase of genital herpes caused by the HSV-1 type in recent times. This literature review is going to be study the causes, symptoms, treatments and prevention of this infectious disease.
Causes
HSV-2 or herpes simplex virus 2 is the type that usually causes this disease and is transmitted through sexual intercourse with an infected person. This infected person might show symptoms …show more content…
These signs and symptoms differ from people to people. The severity and recurrence of symptoms increase for people who had genital HSV initially (Gupta 2007). Symptoms acquired as result of both the HSV-1 infections and HSV-2 infection has the same intensity and is difficult to tell apart to which it is associated with (Kimberline 2004). One of the symptoms is an HSV lesion that appears around the perianal region or by the upper thighs and usually takes 4 to 7 days to develop after sexual exposure (Gupta). Other signs include pain, itching and burning, as well as dysuria, which affects about 80% of women (Gupta). Dysuria is having a painful or difficult urination. Additionally, there are also other symptoms like headache, fever, malaise, and myalgias, which affects about 40 percent of men and two thirds of women in the firth phase of the episode after exposure to the virus (Kimberline 2004). These symptoms have a tendency of recurring from time to time, but it is not true for all patients. However, about 50 percent of patients with the symptomatic recurrence have mild tingling sensation that occur about 30 minutes to 48 hours before the break out and other painful regions in the buttock, legs and hips (Kimberlin 2014). There has been found methods to also detect the asymptomatic viral shedding in the genital areas using the PCR amplification in about 80 percent of men with the HSV-2 virus (Hofstetter
Causes
HSV-2 or herpes simplex virus 2 is the type that usually causes this disease and is transmitted through sexual intercourse with an infected person. This infected person might show symptoms …show more content…
These signs and symptoms differ from people to people. The severity and recurrence of symptoms increase for people who had genital HSV initially (Gupta 2007). Symptoms acquired as result of both the HSV-1 infections and HSV-2 infection has the same intensity and is difficult to tell apart to which it is associated with (Kimberline 2004). One of the symptoms is an HSV lesion that appears around the perianal region or by the upper thighs and usually takes 4 to 7 days to develop after sexual exposure (Gupta). Other signs include pain, itching and burning, as well as dysuria, which affects about 80% of women (Gupta). Dysuria is having a painful or difficult urination. Additionally, there are also other symptoms like headache, fever, malaise, and myalgias, which affects about 40 percent of men and two thirds of women in the firth phase of the episode after exposure to the virus (Kimberline 2004). These symptoms have a tendency of recurring from time to time, but it is not true for all patients. However, about 50 percent of patients with the symptomatic recurrence have mild tingling sensation that occur about 30 minutes to 48 hours before the break out and other painful regions in the buttock, legs and hips (Kimberlin 2014). There has been found methods to also detect the asymptomatic viral shedding in the genital areas using the PCR amplification in about 80 percent of men with the HSV-2 virus (Hofstetter