Category: News

The helpline gets a lot of calls every (week) day and here are some of the most common questions:

“Will I transmit my genital herpes to my child?”

The answer to that is of course, “no you cannot – it is transmitted directly skin-to-skin with the affected area so clearly a mum with a cold sore does need to take care, but a mum with a genital sore is not going to infect her child with her genital herpes.

“I had sex last night and now I have an outbreak, will I have infected my partner with genital herpes?”

The answer is there are two possibilities. One: if your body was planning on having an outbreak today, then possibly you were infectious last night and the partner might have caught it. Two: (and this is much more likely) the late night or the friction has triggered the outbreak, and you would not have had it if you had not had sex. So you were not infectious last night. By the way, if sex triggers outbreaks, use a sexual lubricant with silicone.

“Who did I get herpes from?”

It is important to remember that a person can have their first outbreak of genital herpes many years after catching it.  So, often you cannot know for sure where it came from.

“Is this (…long description…) herpes?”

We cannot diagnose on the phone. Each of the symptoms of a primary outbreak of herpes can be linked to many other illnesses. So, the ‘flu-like symptoms’ might actually be flu. The ‘itchiness that comes before the blisters appear’ might be caused by anything from allergy to washing powder, to eczema.  The ache in the leg might be a strained muscle… Get diagnosed at a clinic.

Marian Nicholson, 15 March 2018

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We need to protect sexual health clinics and services

Sign the petition  to maintain the sexual health services. Since the government REMOVED sexual health from the NHS and asked local councils to provide it, the standard of services (access times, staffing, etc) has gone down.

You need to show that members of the public do want the provision of anonymous, easily accessible sexual health clinics. Sign now!

And if you want action for your own sexual health clinic, write to your local councillor. No one does! You can say your children/nephews, etc., need the service. They don’t care who is using it, just that it needs support. Afterall, chlamydia is the most common cause of acquired infertility! That’s serious. There are 29 other things that look like herpes. So just because a person thinks they have it, until it is swabbed by a sexual health service, you cannot tell. We probably need a protest to protect sexual health clinics!

We have been following the development of the potential vaccine from Rational Vaccines.  This is the work of Dr Bill Halford’s team. (I recently spoke to their CEO on the phone.) This is an interesting vaccine, because it is different from the others currently being worked on. It is formulated in the same what as the successful chickenpox vaccine.
Continue reading Potential vaccine?

We run these days to help you develop confidence, information, skills to talk to a new partner – and to meet others in the same boat.

Nine people attended recently. They marked their score cards with the top rating: a ‘very helpful’ day and several commented that it was even more enjoyable than they had expected. “Meeting the others on the course is a bonus,” said one lady.  “In fact I have made two new friends and we support each other and meet up.”  These days happen every three months. You can see the date for the next one on the Support Groups page of the website.
Continue reading ‘Talking to a New Partner’ – Come to an Event That Will Give You Confidence (and Information)

You may have read some headlines in the Sun or the Mail, etc. They report “‘Women infected with herpes while they are pregnant are twice as likely to have a child with autism.” This headline comes from a study looking at whether maternal infections during pregnancy are associated with the risk of neurological developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).
Continue reading No “Link between herpes in pregnancy and autism”

“Dates for the diary” now has its own events page

Events are now on their own website page – with dates

We organise a support groups/social get-togethers – mostly in London. The hosts for these events are people with herpes.  You can meet others with the virus, share experiences…

We hold informal, interactive days when you can learn how to talk to a new partner.  These are on the first Saturday of them month – and they are extremely popular. The usual  comment from people who attend is always something like: “I wish I had gone to one of these sooner…”

And a formal seminar – once a year – with a doctor who is expert in genital herpes.  We always ask the doctor to be sure to allow time for answering all your questions. Next one is on May 12th, 2018.

Since COVID, we have added lots of Zoom events too. Several every month.

Office Work

We need a volunteer (or more than one) to come into the office to do the routine tasks of administration. (We had a great guy, but we found him a full-time paid job in this building, so now we need ‘you’!)
Continue reading Volunteering

Daily Mail confuses different herpes viruses

Do you know the difference between genital herpes (caused by herpes simplex types 1 or 2) and glandular fever (caused humanherpes virus 4 i.e. Epstein Barr virus)? Of course you do, but the Daily Mail doesn’t! On 20th July 2016, health writer Mia De Graaf confused these viruses and also Kaposi’s sarcoma virus (humanherpes virus 8). Herpes simplex is not, ever involved in cancer-causing activities, HHV 4 and 8 are. Simples!
Continue reading When the media gets it wrong!

By reading everything on this site, you will be reassured and educated. The information on this site is written to the high standards required by The Information Standard.  This means that all medical statements about genital herpes are referenced – often from the guidelines written by doctors who are specialists in genital herpes.
Continue reading Are you reading everything on this site?

The Sun (23-9-15) Wrote About a Mum Who is Asking People Not to Kiss New Babies

Because Claire Henderson had never had a cold sore (or any other herpes simplex virus) her baby did not have any antibody protection when someone with a cold sore kissed baby Brooke.  The new-born baby became very ill. Luckily, the hospital put the baby on an aciclovir drip and this ensured that she made a full recovery.

If you have genital herpes, cold sores, or whitlows (on the finger), your new babies have ‘borrowed’ antibody protection that will last them until they are old enough to catch things without danger.  So you do not have to worry about infecting your baby.

Since no one knows the antibody status of a new baby, don’t kiss a baby that is not yours!