Just like with other venereal diseases, there is a lot of conjecture out there about what they are and how they actually affect the person who has them. Whether you’ve had herpes before or not, you might still be in a place where you know little to nothing about it.
Stigma around STDs occurs when rumors are spread that doesn’t have any source of truth to them. This means that the more you know about medical conditions like herpes, the better you can deal with them, and the less you have to be afraid. Let’s talk about the most common myths surrounding herpes.
If you’re stuck inside right now because of the lockdown and are worried that you might have herpes, don’t worry – you don’t even have to go to the doctor to find out. Just use an at-home herpes test, which is discreet, and offers same-day testing.
Condoms Protect Against Herpes
It would be nice if we could say that condoms completely protect against STDs like herpes, but this simply isn’t the case. Herpes is a disease that can be easily spread and is transmitted when you have skin to skin contact.
This means that you can use all the protection you have, and still be at risk of spreading it, or getting it from your partner. Condoms can’t cover all the skin down there, which is why they’re ineffective at protecting against herpes.
Herpes is Just Caught by Promiscuous People
Another common myth is that only promiscuous people are susceptible to getting herpes. However, this just isn’t true at all. Believe it or not, as much as two-thirds of the world’s population under the age of 50 have the virus strain herpes, so it’s a lot more common than you might think.
Because it is so contagious, this means that you can catch it just from touching surfaces where the virus is still alive and able to spread. This includes a lot more people than just those that are sexually active.
You Can See All the Symptoms
One of the biggest reasons why a lot of people who have herpes don’t go and get help for it straight away is that a lot of the time, the symptoms aren’t immediately obvious. Even when someone begins to see symptoms associated with herpes, they might just chalk it up to feeling run down.
This is because some symptoms include achy muscles and a fever. If you have these symptoms, you could very easily just think that you’re coming down with a cold, and drink lemon tea to feel better.
Herpes is Just Contagious When There’s an Outbreak
Unfortunately, no. Like a lot of viruses out there, they can be presented in some people as asymptomatic, which means that they carry and can spread the virus, but will show no signs of it through symptoms.
This means that even when there’s not an outbreak of herpes, there’s still a chance that you could catch it.
Herpes is often associated with people who like to be sexually active a lot, and a lot of the time people think that they can spot someone who has herpes a mile away. However, as you can see, these are simply myths and can be quite easily dispelled.
Author: M. Zahid