Educating the public about oral herpes/spreading
June 30th, 2008 | by admin |I contracted genital herpes nearly thirty years ago from my former husband, who often had cold sores. I had described symptoms to my doctor, but he passed over it as a “skin irritation,” gave me a tube of “ointment,” and sent me on my way! I did not know I had it until about three years ago, nor did I know I could get it from him. I was married for several years to another man, who worked in the medical field, and he never suggested what I had was herpes, nor did he ever himself have an outbreak.
Now, having been single for 15 years, I realize I could have been spreading it to others. Never have I heard a commercial for cold sore medication stating that cold sores are the same virus and can be transmitted to the genitals through oral sex. If indeed 50 to 80 percent of the American population carry the oral virus, I feel it is imperative to get that information out, instead of letting people continue to make genital herpes sound like a life-threatening plague, and ignore the threat of oral herpes through oral sex.
