# Herpes Simplex I in a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086 "2007-06-07T03:29:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/21 "2007-06-07T09:50:03Z")
And if you thought cold sores in your eye was bad enough, how about cold sores on the **Brain**. I give you herpes simplex type 1 encephalitis. Imagine those holes on your lips inside your head. I’ve heard of a guy who has no memory after a bout of this - he does not remember his wifes visits, even just after she has been there. Really sad, and frightening those (like me) with cold sores up in the nose. Si ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/22 "2007-06-07T10:06:57Z")
Acne is also a possibility – a single acne lesion right near the lip can look like a small herpes blister. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/23 "2007-06-07T11:59:01Z")
I get cold sores when I’m stressed out, had them since I was a kid. I’d suspect a kid’s immune system is less sturdy then an adults, making them more susceptible to grandma’s infectious kisses. I’ve read that the herpes virus causing cold sores, resident in the head, can easily be passed onto the genitals during contact in, say, oral sex. Any truth to this? Having the odd cold sore is not a big deal at all, really. Would hate to infect someone else in a more, er, delicate part of the body. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/24 "2007-06-08T02:32:17Z")
[QUOTE=dgrdfd] Yes, thanks for correcting me. That’s what I meant. It’s weird how for some people it doesn’t really seem to be contagious. For instance, I have three brothers. For my mom, me and another brother we get them pretty easily. My father and other brothers have never had them even after sharing drinks, etc. [/QUOTE] Unless they’ve had the blood tests for the presence of herpes anitbodies and have tested negative, it’s entirely possible that they have been infected but are asymptomatic. Here is a link to a really good article about HSV 1 and 2: > **[Herpes HSV-1 & HSV-2 | Herpes](https://herpes.com/hsv1-2/)** > > Herpes | The most comprehensive educational site. Covers transmission, treatments, medications, symptoms, self-help, diet & nutrition, current research, products, and URL pointers to other sites. The statistic in the article is that 80-90% of Americans over 50 have been infected with HSV 1. The figure is so high because it’s so easy to acquire in childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/25 "2007-06-08T02:44:55Z")
[QUOTE=OttoDaFe] I can’t speak for **Rick** , but in my case it sucked (and continues to suck) the proverbial rock. When I developed a herpes sore on my right cornea, the standard treatment was to (spoilered for the squeamish): Cauterize the area with iodine and a curette. In other words, burn up and scrape away the affected tissue. Of course, this was when I was eight (in 1954); I understand that therapy has advanced a bit since then. But it’s one of my earlier memories, and it _hurt_. Nowadays, while I can see light and dark, and vague shapes, I have almost no visual clarity on that side because I’m looking through scar tissue. And it seems that the herpes virus can’t be eradicated completely in the area, so it’s likely to flare up when I get a severe cold (or anything that dampens my immune system). **Rick** ’s MMV. If it does, I sincerely hope it’s better. ETA: As **R** said, there’s also the light factor. For me, one of the first signs of an impending flare is a feeling like getting an icepick through the eye when looking at a bright light. [/QUOTE] That was about the time I had a really bad outbreak and went from 20/40 to 20/400 overnight.\* I don’t recall exactly just how they treated it, but I don’t think they did it using the method you describe. I am right there with you on the icepick in eye thing. \*For those of you with good eyesight, an eye exam when you are 20/400 goes like this Doc: Can you read the top line? Me: What top line? Doc: The one on the chart Me: What chart? Doc: The one on the wall Me: What wall? Doc: :smack: 20/400 ETA: I think I was four when this happened so this would have been about 1956. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/26 "2007-06-08T16:24:26Z")
[QUOTE=drachillix] So there are plenty of people basically born with it because their mother had it, nothing more insidious than that. [/QUOTE] But that would be born with genital herpes (Herpes Simplex II, not I). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/27 "2007-06-08T20:03:38Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] But that would be born with genital herpes (Herpes Simplex II, not I). [/QUOTE] Genital herpes is herpes lesions on your genitals. Oral herpes is herpes near your mouth. Either one can be caused by Herpes Simplex I or II. “They” used to think I was oral and II was genital, but that’s no longer considered true. If a baby catches herpes passing through the birth canal, it could be near the mouth or on its genitals - both places come into contact with mom’s genitals on the way out, after all. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/28 "2007-06-08T20:13:36Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Genital herpes is herpes lesions on your genitals. Oral herpes is herpes near your mouth. Either one can be caused by Herpes Simplex I or II. “They” used to think I was oral and II was genital, but that’s no longer considered true. [/QUOTE] But one hides in your spine and likes to come up at your happy place, and the other hides by your ear and likes to come up at your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086/29 "2007-06-08T20:30:07Z")
One of my sisters and I both get cold sores now and then, presumably having caught the virus from our mom long before adolescence (that’s what my mom has told me, and I have no reason to doubt her). My other sister, however, has never had a problem, nor have my wife and kids. I am very careful about kissing them or sharing anything that might be infectious when my lips get tingly or when I actually have a cold sore (very rare nowadays, knock on wood, in part due to Valtrex drug therapy). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herpes-simplex-i-in-a-kid/407086.md?page=1)