RESEARCH ARTICLE
Herpes: Issues Under the Cold Sore
Shavitri Mahendiran1, Craig G. Burkhart*, 1, Craig N. Burkhart2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 101
Last Page: 104
Publisher ID: TODJ-4-101
DOI: 10.2174/1874372201004010101
Article History:
Received Date: 23/04/2010Revision Received Date: 08/06/2010
Acceptance Date: 12/06/2010
Electronic publication date: 12/8/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Herpes simplex virus is a widespread disease affecting about one-third of the world's population. Many individuals suffer from its painful and debilitating manifestations, which greatly impact daily living and can lower one's self-esteem and confidence. It is therefore vital to understand this disease process including its acquisition, replication, transmission, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment in order to better manage patients. While herpes can have many negative consequences, it also appears to offer some benefit to humans through a symbiotic relationship. In this review of herpes, there are three important points that need to be emphasized. First, herpes can be found in all organs throughout the human body and not just the dorsal root ganglion. Secondly, herpes has been proven to be recurrent by laboratory testing. Thirdly, hospitals should institute respiratory (not merely skin) precautions for herpes zoster due to potential airborne transmission.