What are the characteristics of recurrent herpes

Genital herpes is highly contagious and has a relatively high recurrence rate, which are both obvious characteristics of genital herpes. There are many reasons for the recurrence, such as low immunity, skin trauma, or some infectious factors, which can easily lead to recurrence. When the patient's symptoms relapse, the harm will increase. If the medication is not used properly, it will also cause drug resistance.

1. Characteristics of recurrent herpes

If the recurrence is frequent, more than 6 times, or even once a month or twice a month, then you have to consider long-term maintenance and continuous treatment, which takes 4 to 12 months. The dosage at this time is very low, and you only need to take it once a day. Drink plenty of water and monitor your kidney function at any time. This long-term low-dose maintenance has little effect on kidney function.

2. Recurrence rate

After the resolution of primary genital herpes, the recurrence rate for HSV-2-infected individuals is 80%, while the recurrence rate for HSV-1-infected individuals is 55%. About 50% of men experience recurrence within 4 months after the resolution of primary genital herpes; 50% of women do not experience recurrence until 8 months later. The average number of relapses is 3-4 times per year, but about 15% of patients have 8 or more relapses per year.

3. Relapse triggers

Infection, fever, skin trauma, menstruation, sun exposure, cold, malignant tumors, certain viral infections, etc. may induce disease recurrence.

4. Symptoms

The severity, duration and detoxification time of recurrent genital herpes symptoms are lower than those of primary genital herpes. The virus isolation time is 3-4 days, the average pause time is 4-5 days, and the complete healing time is 9-10 days. Symptoms such as fever, headache, and aseptic meningitis are rare. The positive rate of pharyngeal herpes simplex virus isolation is only 1%, and female patients have more severe symptoms. 40%-50% of cases have prodromal symptoms, that is, local tingling, burning sensation or dull fear 30 minutes to 48 hours before the onset of the rash. Sometimes, buttocks pain or radiating pain in the back of the thigh may occur 1-5 days before the onset of the rash, which is similar to sciatica.

5. Skin lesions

The lesions are often limited to one side of the external genitalia, with a range of about one-tenth of that of primary genital herpes. The time for new lesions to form is 1-2 days, while that for primary herpes is 5-6 days. 10%-30% of female patients have cervical infection, but there is often no obvious damage to the cervix.