Oral herpes...

Picture of resemblance may cause misdiagnosis: These days a lot of people have become self aware about the possible diseases by reading and viewing content and pictures of Oral Herpes available over the internet. This type of self diagnosis can sometimes go wrong as what does look like herpes may not be herpes. The people may not clearly understand the symptoms and can draw wrong conclusions from the herpes pics. It is a common mistake to search the photos of herpes on the internet and start the self diagnosis on its basis. On internet some of the gruesome pictures on the display of some herpes related site make the people dread and confuse the disease. It is to be noted that those pictures are in most cases the worst case scenarios that are not general pictures of what one will experience in the theoretical case of outbreak of herpes. It is more often than not that people end up in getting misdiagnosed from this medium of self diagnosis.

Oral herpes virus can spread from sex:It was originally believed that the herpes simplex virus 1 or HSV1 is not responsible for the sexually transmitted disease of herpes. But of late reports are consolidating the fact that there is the increased risk of acquiring infection of the herpes simplex virus of strain type 1 by sexual activities especially oral sex and vaginal intercourse. In such cases young women are particularly in the high risk group.

It is further reported that HSV1 is a significant pathogen in genital herpes infections. In younger women infections of mouth and lips cause fever blisters and cold sores. Viral shedding and transmission of disease can happen even in the absence of visible outbreak.

Symptoms of oral herpes:Oral herpes usually is caused by HSV-1 and affects the lips and mucous membranes in the mouth in some primary attacks. The facial herpes can also show infection on the cheeks or in the nose, but it is not very common. Blisters form on the lips and tongue eruption may occur. Eventually blisters rupture into open sores which can be a painful experience. The sores generally develop thin yellowish layer before healing, and disappear within a fortnight. Due to the presence of infection breath may become foul and salivation may increase. Chills, hearing loss, muscle pain and difficulty in swallowing may also be present sometimes. It usually occurs in the mouth in children and in adolescents the primary infection occurs in the throats upper part which may cause soreness.

Treatment of Oral herpes:Oral Herpes infection may be treated by Non specific Treatment Therapies and Specific antiviral Treatment therapies. Non specific therapies may include proper dressings to avoid secondary infections, taking of balanced diet to avoid irritation in sores and further is spread of infection to further sensitive areas. The sores shouldn’t be touched. Intimate behavior should be refrained. Application of ice may have soothing effect in some cases. Application of astringent may provide relief if applied in early stages. The suitable ointments can help in preventing painful cracking and bleeding in the scrab stages. In Specific treatment therapy, antiviral drugs like Oral acyclovir (Zovirax), valacyclovir (Valtrex) or famciclovir (Famvir) attenuate the symptoms and number of fever blister recurrences. They also prevent HSV from multiplying and are effective if taken in pill form prior to an outbreak. Surface antiviral creams having active acyclovir (Zovirax) or penciclovir (Denavir) also limit the lesion severity in the affected areas.