When to Escalate
The Infection Behind the Lesions
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a double stranded DNA virus that infects skin and mucous membranes and then stays in the body for life.
NCLEX-RN
NCLEX-RN
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a double-stranded DNA virus that infects skin and mucous membranes and then stays in the body for life. Genital herpes is caused by both HSV type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV type 2 (HSV-2). HSV-2 has historically been the main cause, but HSV-1 now accounts for a large share of new genital infections: in laboratory studies from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, more than 50% of genital isolates were HSV-1, and the proportion was higher in younger people. How the virus behaves: during an outbreak the virus replicates in epithelial cells and destroys them. The result is a cluster of small vesicles on a red base that break open into shallow, painful ulcers, then crust and re-epithelialize. From the first infection onward, the virus travels up sensory nerve axons to the sensory ganglia, where it becomes latent. Antiviral drugs act only on virus that is actively replicating. They shorten and soften an episode, but they cannot remove latent virus, so treatment controls genital herpes without curing it. Why recurrences happen in the same area: when the...
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