wad is my risk of std..

[DoctorTan]

Originally Posted by sg50

Dr Tan, am I correct to say HSV is not curable and there is no vaccine for it?

If there is an outbreak of herpes, can a person's own immune system clear it, or must rely on antiviral medicine?

It is not curable in the sense that it will always remain in the body. However most people do not experience any outbreaks and do not even know they are infected. Look at it this way: we carry lots of different viruses and bacteria in our body. They too sometimes causes symptoms. Yet we are completely not bothered by them. So why are we so bothered by HSV?

Vaccines are currently being developed.

Herpes outbreaks are always self-limiting unless a person is immune compromised e.g. infants, HIV +ve, uncontrolled Diabetes, chemotherapy, on strong immune suppressive drugs etc

In other words, even if you do not take any medicines, the symptoms will go away. BUT if you do not take any medicines you may:
1. Suffer more severe symptoms
2. Suffer from the symptoms for a much longer time
3. Suffer from post herpetic neuralgia (pain that lingers on long after the blisters have disappeared)

Medicines are also used to prevent the onset of outbreaks in people who get very frequent and/or severe outbreaks. This is called suppressive treatment.