What Causes Cold Sores?
The most common way the virus is spread is through physical contact, such as kissing. Washing your hands thoroughly after touching the affected area will help prevent spreading the virus to other parts of your body or another person.
A cold sore infection occurs when latent herpes simplex virus particles become reactivated. It is not a sign of a recently acquired herpes simplex infection. Also known as primary herpetic stomatitis, the initial herpes simplex virus infection usually does not take the form of a cold sore. It is for this reason that a person may not associate their initial exposure to the herpes virus with their current outbreak.
With initial infection, the virus penetrates small breaks in the skin caused through injury or trauma, and then travels to the nerve roots on the spinal cord, where it lies dormant. Whenever our immune systems are low, the virus travels through the body down to the sensory nerves to the skin. When the virus reaches the cells of the skin, it multiplies and damages the skin cells, resulting in blisters. Eventually a cold sore develops.
Whether a cold sore is visible or not, this virus is always seeking new cells to infect. This process is called viral shedding. Because there are large numbers of herpes particles being shed or released, it is extremely easy to expose or even infect others.
The eyes seldom become infected, but it would be wise to protect them from the virus, since it can potentially cause eye problems and, in extreme cases, blindness. Managing your stress levels and avoiding excessive sunlight can help to reduce outbreaks.
Tags: Cold Sores, Cold Sores causes
Still if you don't find an answer? Please don't hesitate to ask a question and get an answer from an expert on what you are looking for!
Recent Health Answers
Diet for loose motion Discover the food regimen for loose motion in terms of diet, which helps to keep away from loose motion, once you followed these tips. Lets learn Herbs to increase breast milk Learn the secrets of herbs that increase breast milk production or supply. As most of the people not aware of these herbs. Even if they know theseFoods to increase breast milk Lets discover the foods that increase breast milk production. As everyone knows about these foods, but we are not aware about which foods are helpWhat foods to avoid with ulcers ? This is a good idea that you are looking for foods to avoid with ulcers. As most of the people just search on home remedies to cure ulcers. But onHow can i increase my weight ? Now a days many people are facing lot of problems due to over weight, but there is no wonder that some of them are still looking to increase theirWe update our home remedies for health daily. Please visit regularly to find a more home remedies tips for . Feel free to contribute your own home remedy so that others may benefit from your experiences!
|
|
Popular Health Articles
|