Herpes Transmission: Understanding Asymptomatic Viral Shedding

Herpes Transmission: Understanding Asymptomatic Viral Shedding

Many people with the herpes simplex virus are are asymptomatic sufferers. What this means is that even when the virus is active, they show no outward signs. In herpes this period of asymptomatic outbreaks is known as viral shedding. When a person has viral shedding, the virus is active and they are considered contagious.

Due to the fact that there are no obvious outbreaks, it’s very difficult – if not flat out impossible to detect when a person is going through a viral shedding phase.There are still many things about herpes and transmission that are not fully understood at this point. One reason that the various forms of herpes are difficult to eliminate through normal medical treatment is that fact that they go dormant for long periods of time, which renders them relatively immune to treatment.

The asymptomatic shedding phenomenon makes it difficult, if not impossible to avoid passing herpes on to someone solely by avoiding sex during outbreaks. On the other hand, people who are essentially asymptomatic can learn to recognize the more subtle signs of activity even though they don’t get the painful outbreaks. The reason that so many people don’t recognize that they have herpes is not that there are no symptoms but rather the symptoms are mild enough to be ignored or mistaken for other kinds of problems.

Although the CDC estimates that 1 out of 6 adults has herpes, that percentage gets higher with increasing age, since it’s incurable. One estimate says that something like 80 to 90 percent of the population
has herpes type 1 by the time they reach 50 years of age.

If you or someone you are intimate with has herpes type 1 or type 2 (genital) it is important to know that the virus can be transmitted during viral shedding.