Medical Vision Dental

Usually caused by the Herpes simplex virus type 1 or HSV-1, cold sores are small blisters that often appear on or around the lips of a person. When infected, a person often feels much pain and agony on the blisters. In its earlier stage, tiny lumps appear on the infected area and are often difficult to spot by the naked eye. Other than appearing on the lips of an infected person, cold sores are also seen on other parts of the face like on or inside the nose and inside the mouth. Other than the said areas of the face, cold sores can also be seen on various parts of the body like on the genitals. But for the case of genital herpes, the Herpes simplex virus type 2 is often responsible.

These days, a huge number of persons worldwide are already infected by the said virus. The number is more likely to go up than fall down because HSV-1 gets to stay inside the body of the person without any cure at all. The virus gets to spread easily and fast as a person who is infected with such virus doesn’t always show the signs of cold sores. Once you have the virus, there is a high possibility that you have already contracted it since you were still young. This is often the situation in most cases as children are most vulnerable to infection due to close contacts and getting kissed by an infected person.

Whenever you get yourself infected by the HSV-1, the virus works its way into your system through ganglion, a group of nerve cells. It is in these cells that the virus takes refuge and sleeps indefinitely until the time it gets reactivated. Sometimes, the virus only sleeps permanently without any reactivation. This explains why there are some people who are infected with the virus who don’t necessarily have cold sores.

Reactivation of the virus that causes cold sores is still unclear and uncertain. However, there have been some factors that are believed to contribute in reactivating the said virus. And some of these factors are fever, sunlight, cold weather, hormonal changes, tooth extractions, certain foods and drugs, and other types of infections. In general, the cause of cold sores is unpredictable and the person doesn’t necessarily have to have colds to contract cold sore.

Cold sores spread so easily in various ways. If you happen to be infected with such virus, infecting other persons is easy and fast. Simply by skin to skin contact and oral secretions like kissing, HSV-1 is let loose. In general, infection is to spread more likely as even infected persons don’t know that they have already the virus. There are also other means of spreading the virus and some include sharing lip balms and lipsticks and cups and eating utensils.

For the case of genital herpes, virus is more likely to enter in the genital area among couples especially during oral sex. The cold sore blister on an infected person can also get worse when he or she touches the blisters and then touches other parts of the body especially on parts where there is a cut on it.

Conclusively, the HSV-1 chooses no specific victim to infect with. Any person is vulnerable from contracting the virus in various ways. Once infected, the best thing to do is not to allow yourself from touching, pinching, and squeezing the blisters. But when you do, it is advisable to avoid touching other parts of your body to refrain the virus from getting worse.