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RE: Did Cheating give you Herpes?

in #science7 years ago

The herpes virus can stay inside a neuron for a long, long time. Decades even! It just sits around inside the cell’s nucleus and does absolutely nothing. Until something causes it to start its replication cycle, be it extreme stress or a suppressed immune system.

This is one of those really unfair facts of nature. I have a couple of family members that at some point were undergoing a sort of life crisis, and on top of that they had to deal with the mother of all sudden herpes flare outs that seemingly came out of nowhere (they didn't even know they had it, must have been dormant for decades).

Literally, to add injury to insult... :-(

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Herpes Zoster, i think you are referring to, AKA Shingles.

Can I ask this question? So if you had chickenpox does that mean you have the herpes virus in your body?

Chicken pox is caused by Human Herpes Virus Type 3, also known as the varicella-zoster virus. There are eight herpes subtypes that each have different health implications - classically, type 1 & 2 are sexually transmitted but types 4 and 5 (which are the causes of good ol' fashion mono can be transmitted through saliva). When you're infected with the virus as a child (chickenpox) your body will develop immunity to it and the virus will retreat into the nerve cells in your back. Each of these nerve cells supply the sensation to bands of skin called "dermatomes" that warp around your torso and chest. Later in life the virus can reactivate in times of stress or depressed immunity and travel away to the ends of these nerves close to the surface of the skin where they erupt into painful blistering lesions we call zoster, or Shingles. The band-like pattern the lesions appear on indicates which spinal nerve the virus was hiding in. By the way, there's a vaccine for shingles that may be given to adults over 60 years old and some over 50, and you don't need to have a history of chicken pox or shingles to receive it.

One kind of herpes virus, yes. There are several.

is not just around the mouth ?

Hey good post :)

The steemster will give you as simple explanation. A doctor told me that stress produces the outbreak. The stress effects the body in such a way that it is more vulnerable. He also said if you eat a certain type of healthy diet to maintain your immune system, then you will NEVER have an outbreak even under stress.

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