Some people experience a burning sensation during urination, and women may notice a thin, white vaginal discharge. In women, the lesions may appear in or around the vagina, cervix, urethra, labia, and anus. In men, the scrotum, the shaft or glans of the penis, and the anus are the typical sites for lesions. The lesions eventually rupture, causing shallow ulcers which can be painful. The virus enters the body through the skin or mucous membranes of the genital area.
Transmission primarily occurs through vaginal, anal, or oral-genital sexual contact.
A person is considered infectious during the prodromal phase, which occurs right before an outbreak of lesions, and throughout the infection until the lesions have completely healed. Although the infected person is generally contagious only when lesions are present, a small percentage of persons excrete the virus in the absence of symptoms. These asymptomatic carriers are unaware that they have the virus but are capable of passing it to others. My roommate has herpes. The herpes virus is quite fragile and cannot survive long outside the human body.