Infection rates doubled for persons in their 20s, and the risk decreased as people got older. HSV-1 is mostly responsible for cold sores or fever blisters in the mouth. The increased number of young people infected with HSV-2 is alarming, says Douglas T. Fleming, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey. Plus, he says many adolescents have the perception that they are safe with oralsex. Experts say genital herpes is transmitted through sexual intercourse, oral sex, and not by contact with toilet seats, hot tubs or shared towels.
Neonatal herpes is considered the most serious consequence of untreated genital herpes.
In rare cases, the infected have life-threatening skin conditions, or recurrent meningitis and headaches. To find out whether you or a loved one has genital herpes, a simple blood test is available at the doctor's office. It is important to ask for a test that can also tell which type of herpes you have, if any.