Female Genital Herpes

Female genital herpes is a growing health problem for women in the United States and other parts of the world.  It was only a few short decades ago that most people had never heard of herpes, and didn’t have any idea what it was.  It was only in the late 1970s that word about this increasingly common STD began to get out, and it was well into the 1980s before the average person in America became familiar with the new term.  Since then the virus has multiplied exponentially and we’ve now reached a point where one in five Americans 13 years of age and older has the infection.

With those kinds of numbers, female genital herpes is something that just about every woman has to worry about, and needs to be informed about.  Because once you have it, it doesn’t go away.  It’s a disease that stays with you for the rest of your life.  Some good news is that as you get older, outbreaks tend to be less severe and become more infrequent.  That may not seem like good news now, but if you ever get herpes you’ll be quite thankful when outbreaks get less severe and fewer in number.

The best way to prevent yourself from being infected with female genital herpes is to use condoms during sexual activity, and also to be aware of what the signs of it are in a sexual partner.  If you spot redness or blisters in your prospective partner’s genital area as you’re preparing for intimacy, even if it’s very slight, there’s a good chance he has herpes, and you’re strongly advised not to proceed.  He may not even be aware that he has it – in the early stages, many people aren’t.  But don’t take the chance that he’s wrong.  Play it safe, and you can steer clear of female genital herpes.