Most people on our planet have common herpes. More often it appears on the lips or nose and passes quickly. But there are times when the virus goes deeper and dives right into the bloodstream.
They used to think it was rare. Back in the middle of the last century, herpes was found in the blood of infants. The children did not seem to suffer much, but the virus floated inside them and could settle anywhere.
Then they came up with PCR and found herpes in the blood of about every third child with bubbles in the mouth.
The same was true for one in five adults with herpes on the lip. Moreover, this all happened in people with normal immunity.
Surprisingly, swimming in our blood, the herpes simplex virus for some reason usually does not cause a massive infection.
There are several explanations for this fact.
First, PCR is a very sensitive method. Roughly speaking, you can detect a single piece of DNA that belongs to a lone virus. Remember the story about infectious dose of the virus with covid? There, in order to get sick, a whole crowd of viruses was needed. So in the case of herpes, there is a virus in the blood, but it is not enough.
Secondly, the virus can infect but not multiply. This is a known fact. He needs some kind of special environment for reproduction. It happens that viruses just scattered through our cells as in separate rooms in an apartment building and sit quietly there.
Thirdly, herpes viruses differ in their aggressiveness, and not each of them seeks to make us a war.
Well, and last of all, they remember about our immunity, which, in principle, at any stage can stop this outrage.
It turns out that the spread of herpes through the blood throughout the body can be, but it rarely happens. If this happens, then in very seriously ill people. And then this infection ends badly.
How to prevent this - no one knows. Better not to get infected. Vaccines for herpes simplex have been tried, but they work very poorly. All hope is on the consciousness of the carriers of the second option, who could spend money on drugs and not infect their loved ones.
