When people find out they have genital herpes, it’s easy for them to jump to the wrong conclusions about how they caught it because there is so much misinformation about. And this in turn can lead them to the wrong conclusions about their relationships.
Here are just a few of the common misunderstandings about herpes and how it’s passed on:
Caught it from the toilet seat/spa/seat/sharing bath towels.
The herpes virus needs heat and moisture to survive and move from one body to another. It won’t survive on a toilet seat, in a spa bath or on bath towels. You can only get genital herpes through some kind of some sexual contact. Any genital contact can be responsible, and remember, people who pass herpes on don’t necessarily have symptoms or know they have the virus
Whoever you caught the virus from was dishonest or irresponsible.
Up to 80% of people with genital herpes don’t realise they have the infection, so they have sex without any idea their partners are at risk. They can also infect people years after they themselves caught the virus. Finally, most new genital herpes infections happen when there are no symptoms present.
So whoever passed the virus on to you probably didn’t know they were doing it. They may have been carrying it for years perhaps mistaking the symptoms for something else and will be surprised and hurt if you attack them about it.
Your most recent sexual partner must have given it to you.
Sometimes there can be a long delay between getting the virus and having symptoms – if you get them at all. The virus can be in your nervous system for as long as 10 years before it is activated. It’s also possible for both men and women to have regular minor symptoms they either don’t notice or misinterpret. By the time they realise they have herpes symptoms, they may already have had several outbreaks.
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