# Lysol and Herpes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 29, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614 "2002-06-29T22:19:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614/1 "2002-06-29T22:19:13Z")

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This may sound like an incredibly stupid question, but here goes.

It says right on the lysol bottle that it kills herpes. If that is so, couldn’t someone with genital herpes just swap their naughty areas with lysol and be cured? 🙂

I have a feeling it wouldn’t, but I want to know why.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614/2 "2002-06-29T22:40:22Z")

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It’ll kill the virus on surfaces like toilet seats and bathroom counters. It is not recommended for use on humans.

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614/3 "2002-06-30T00:08:50Z")

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It might kill any virus on the skin during an outbreak…maybe…but the herpes virus sets up permanent shop in a nearby nerve ganglion, spreading every now and then from there. You’d have a hard time getting Lysol into your sacral ganglion.

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614/4 "2002-06-30T01:52:05Z")

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Spray Lisol on one’s naughty bits? AAAAAHHH!!!

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lysol-and-herpes/116614/5 "2002-06-30T02:13:23Z")

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lysol kills cells. Spraying it on infected cells would kill them too. Ouch