Oral Herpes And Genital Herpes. What Is The Difference And How Is It Transmitted?

Posted on Sat, 5 May 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 5 May 2012 Answered on

Sun, 8 Jul 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : What is the incidence rate of oral herpes and genital herpes? What's the difference between the two types and how are they transmitted? How often should I be tested for this?

Answered by Dr. Dr.Raju.A.T (32 minutes later)

Hi,

Thanks for your query.

Incidence of herpes differs with age and with you age in account the incidence in recent is around 60% amongst which about 16% are symptomatic rest will have subclinical infection without any symptoms or lesions.The picture is same with genital herpes too.

Oral herpes is most commonly caused by Herpes simplex Type 1 virus and genital herpes by Herpes simplex type 2 also on minimal occasions there is overlapping.The mode of infection in both is by contact.Oral herpes can be transmitted by kissing the infected individual , by sharing the articles like cigarette,towels,tumbler,touch etc.Genital herpes is via sexual contact.Genital herpes is serious compared to oral herpes in terms of symptoms and resistance to treatment.

Male or female in a sexual relationship should be tested at-least every 6 months for the herpes regularly to ascertain the safety.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar