Healthy living

What Are Cold Sores?

Cold sores are a disease caused by the herpes simplex virus (sometimes called HSV), usually the type 1 strain (whereas the type 2 strain normally causes genital herpes), even though both strains are capable of causing both conditions.

Can I Get Rid of Them?

Herpes simplex is a virus, and once you’ve gotten infected you can never get rid of it (sorry). Although, there is currently research being done on a vaccine for HSV-2 (herpes simplex type 2) to vaccinate women against genital herpes, and the scientists believe that this vaccine could easily be turned into a vaccine for the type 1 strain to prevent people from ever getting cold sores.

Oral herpes (cold sores) is the most common form of herpes simplex infection and is also known as “herpes labialis”, which is the infection that occurs when the virus comes into close contact with oral mucosa or abraded (scuffed or scratched) skin.

Herpes remains in its dormant stage for the great majority of the time where it resides in the sensory nerve cells near the initial site of infection (your face, usually right around the lips, in the case of cold sores), only to emerge from those cells immediately before, during, and immediately after an outbreak of cold sores which usually lasts between 2 and 21 days, usually right around a week for most people. You should also be aware of the fact that you will still be contagious (something called “viral shedding” is what’s occurring) up to a week before and after your cold sore outbreak, so it is possible that you’re contagious even when you don’t have a visible cold sore. If you’re about to get one or you just had one you could be doing something called “asymptomatic shedding–when you’re shedding the virus but showing no symptoms (i.e. cold sores).

I Can Infect Someone Else Even When I Don’t Have One?

Asymptomatic shedding happens in most individuals infected with the herpes virus, and is typically considered the most common way in which genital herpes is transmitted. People think that because they don’t have any symptoms that they’re not contagious and therefore aren’t as careful as they would be if they did have some symptoms of an outbreak and so end up infecting people because, although they’re not symptomatic, they’re still shedding the virus and therefore still contagious. Also, asymptomatic shedding is more frequent in the first 12 months during which a person has herpes.

Keep in mind, the frequency of asymptomatic shedding has no correlation with the frequency of symptomatic outbreaks: this means that the frequency with which you suffer visible outbreaks has no bearing on how often you are asymptomatically shedding.

Preventing Spreading HSV with Prescription Anti-Viral Medication

When one partner has herpes and the other does not, the use of anti-virals like acyclovir and valacyclovir by the infected individual can reduce the odds of infecting their partner by up to 50%. It is thought that asymptomatic HSV-2 viral shedding occurs on 10.8% of the days in a year in patients not undergoing antiviral treatment, versus 2.9% of the days while on anti-viral medication.

Children (especially newborns) and the Danger of Herpes Infection from a Person with a Cold Sore

Although many people infected with HSV develop normal visible symptoms such as lesions and sores, the great majority of those infected with HSV (both HSV-1 and HSV-2) either go undiagnosed or display no visible symptoms of infection (they’re asymptomatic) and in many cases the very first symptom a person will have of their own infection is the transmission of the virus to a sexual partner or the transmission of the virus from a mother to a newborn at term in the form of what’s called “neonatal herpes” which can be very dangerous and is often lethal to the newborn.

Your Cold Sore Could Be FATAL To A Newborn!

Without proper and immediate treatment, neonatal herpes is fatal in 50% to 85% of newborns in all cases and up to two thirds of the survivors have lifelong disabilities. Death and disability still remain common even with appropriate treatment–this is partly because the infection can be difficult to recognize, so many infants do not get treated in time.

One scientific study estimates that at least 460 cases and perhaps as many as 2,800 cases of neonatal herpes occur each year in the United States. By contrast, congenital rubella, syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV infection in newborns are all less common than neonatal herpes. Source: http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news/Experts-Insist-That-Neonatal-Herpes-Be-Reported-Regularly-4645-1/

For much more detailed information I highly recommend you see my friend’s blog where she posts data about various cold sore remedies that her and her friends have tried over the years, the results we’ve come up with, and the conclusions that we’ve reached about various prescription treatments, OTC (over-the-counter) medicines, and home remedies: Cold Sores Home Remedies from Canada: What Works and What Doesn’t.