Herpes

1350 Words3 Pages

The herpes virus is one of the most prevalent viral diseases known to man. As much as eighty percent of all people, worldwide, have herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), and twenty percent have herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2). This may sound like scary statistics, but most infected people suffer only mild discomfort. The more common form, HSV1, usually causes the occasional blister-like sores on or around the mouth. These blisters are called cold sores or fever blisters and, as most sufferers know, they are annoying and mildly painful but rarely dangerous. If the sores are left alone, they will generally heal up in five to twenty days. The less common version, HSV2, has the same symptoms except that the sores are usually found on or around the genitals. However, either type can be found in other places on the body and, in rare cases, the virus can cause serious problems. Ocular herpes (an infection of the eye) can cause blindness, and herpes encephalitis (an infection of the brain) can cause brain damage or death. We have no cure for the herpes virus at this time; once you have the virus, you have it for life. After the virus invades a new host, it incubates for two to twenty days. Then blister-like sores start to form, and in the initial breakout there can be fever, muscle aches and a general feeling of illness.

What is a virus?

Viruses are the smallest infectious agents known; too small to be seen with a normal microscope, an electron microscope is necessary to be able to see a virus. According to Oates, J.K. in Herpes: the facts (1983) " ... an average bacteria is roughly 1,000 nanometers in diameter, while viruses range in size from 300 to as little as 10 nanometers." and that " ... a human red blood cell, ... i...

... middle of paper ...

...ion and then rubbing their eye. This is called autoinoculation, and it is possible to autoinoculate any part of the body where there is a cut or break in the skin. Langston continued with

There are several forms of ocular herpes. The most common is ... the viral infection, i.e. a cold sore in the eye. Typically it causes a branching sore or ulcer on the surface of the cornea … Other forms include ... sterile ulcers that are slow to heal because of mechanical damage FROM the preceding virus infection, ... allergic or immune haze deeper in the cornea due to reaction to virus proteins left after the infection has cleared, and ... iritis or inflammation of the blue or brown part of the eye located behind the cornea. The immune form of corneal disease causes the greatest scarring. (para 5).

With proper medical care, ocular herpes almost never results in blindness.

More about Herpes

Open Document