Herpes Simplex Virus 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Herpes Simplex Virus 2 - Essay Example   The condition has been found to affect approximately 50 million people in the United States. It has also been discovered that antibodies against the virus exist in 20 percent of the adult population which shows previous exposure. It can lead to miscarriages in pregnant mothers if the fetus becomes infected before the fifth month of pregnancy. Females have greater risk of suffering from this condition. There has been not much variation in the rate of occurrence of the disease in United States. The incubation period for the virus is 2 weeks. The first infection is the most severe which resolves in around a month. The following infections cannot have a definitive pattern. Herpes simplex virus leads to genital sores and is responsible for the infection in the neonates due to its spread from the mother to the baby during delivery. The disease is contagious and is sexually transmitted and from the mother to the baby. The disease mainly affects the genitals where it leads to the develop ment of sores. Contact of genitals with the mouth can also result in sores on the mouth. It is responsible for the development of vesicular lesions in the sexual organs in both sexes which can spread to the cervical canal in the case of females and to the prostate gland in males. The newborn baby may also get infected and present with infections on the skin, oral cavity and the eyes. It can also result in inflammation of the brain. Inflammation of the meninges can also be caused by this disease. After the initial infection, the virus can become stored in the sensory ganglia particularly the lumbar and sacral regions where it remains inactive. It reactivates if provided with a stimulus which includes sunlight, high body temperature and disturbances in the hormonal levels. In this case the virus travels again to the skin and produces lesions.