What are Herpes?

Please forgive the grammar of this post title, but I get so many emails asking exactly this I thought I might put it as the title so I can clear things up.

What these people are asking isn't what are genital herpes, what they mean is "What is Genital Herpes?". Genital herpes is a strain of the Herpes Simplex Virus that is usually contracted from sexual contact with another person who has the virus. Like Herpes Simplex 1, genital herpes causes outbreaks of blisters to appear on the body during a time when the immune system is weakened, usually due to stress, illness or sleep deprivation. The blisters caused by Genital Herpes appear on the genitalia (penis or vagina), rather than on the mouth or face.

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