Does the Blarney Stone have Herpes?

Factual Questions
1

Well the OP basically says it all.

A student of mine said he kissed the stone on a trip, and the next morning he said he had a cold sore/herpes simplex I.

He was not prone to them and never had one before.

I jokingly asked if he had too much Guiness that day…He hadn’t.

Kinda gross but could this be?

2

I have heard this before, and there’s no way in hell I’d be caught kissing that thing. Euch! There must be some bacteria, virii(??), etc on it, especially in busy periods, where there’s a constant stream of people. Yuk.

3

There just HAVE to be some serious contagions on that thing…

hrh

4

Prolly just a nasty rumor, but I heard the locals pee on it at night.

5
  • he probably started that nasty rumour by performing the somewhat risque ditty “I got it from Agnes” in 1952:

Complete lyrics with a really annoying MIDI rendition of the tune:

http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/agnes.htm

So, Phlosphr, you may want to ask your student whom he thinks brought it there? :wink:

6

From when your body acquires the herpes simplex virus to when symptoms appear (ie, a cold sore) is certainly more than overnight. If that’s his story, it sounds like a lot of (wait for it) blarney to me. It would take more than a few days for symptoms to appear as a cold sore.

7

Not a rumor.

Peace.

Does ammonia kill the herpes virus?