From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!hogpd!avi
Newsgroups: net.med,net.singles
Title: Re: Swimming/Herpes?
Article-I.D.: hogpd.29
Posted: Tue Apr 12 17:14:41 1983
Received: Wed Apr 13 22:20:17 1983
References: wivax.14853

This note is a follow up to a question on whether you are likely to catch
"herpes" from going swimming. My sources indicate that you are not likely
to get herpes this way, but that some care must be taken in contact with
infected individuals.

There are many forms of the herpes (Greek, herpein = creep) virus that
have been lumped into a single category. The Herpes Simplex (types 1 and 2)
are the ones associated with Venereal disease. At one point they were each
associated more with lesions in the upper or lower sections of the body,
but this distinction has faded because of an increasing trend of having
"nonstandard" sex.

Close person-to-person contact is the most common method of transmission.
Usually it is passed only when mucous membranes (such as the inner mouth,
genitalia or eyes) touch. It can also be passed in secretions from the
above sources. The virus is not viable outside a living organism. It is
transmissible on eating utensils for a BRIEF period after contamination.
The conditions in a swimming pool or hot-tub are not conducive to keeping
the virus in an infectious mode.

It must be emphasized that most herpes sufferers are only occasionally
contagious because the virus spends much of its time hiding in the nerve
sheaths where the bodies normal defense mechanisms can't get at it. Just
in case you are curious, I have avoided getting this obnoxious disease, but
I listened carefully when we were taught about this subject. There is no
known "cure" for it as there is for Syphilis or Gonhorrea, so it is wiser
to be safe than sorry.

	Avi E. Gross	(....!houxm!hogpc!hogpd!avi)

P.S. 	A question has been debated in another newsgroup about whether men
	ask women if they are using some form of birth control before they
	go to bed. I wonder how many people ask their partner whether they
	are likely to catch a communicable disease. It is not very easy to
	examine them to find out, and you would have to give a woman half
	of a pelvic exam - and still not be sure. None of this is likely
	to be very romantic.