Can there be long term serious complications from genital herpes?

[sirena210]

I know you are all very busy answering questions on here, but i don't understand why you are ignoring my question about whether or not genital herpes can lead to death.  My best friend and i are not speaking because of this question.  She became angry with me when she told me recently that in her job as a public Health Agent for a municipality here in New England, she was told by several RN's that they knew of someone who had died from having genital herpes.  I adamantly told her this DOES NOT happen! I have done a LOT of reading about HSV 2 following my diagnosis, and also my provider told me that there are no serious health consequences from having HSV 2 other than painful outbreaks, but that there are of course the psychological issues involved.

So please, again, do you know the answer to my question so that I can have some statistics for my friend who thinks i am taking this too lightly??? Are you guys afraid to talk about it if there ARE rare cases in which someone CAN have serious complications? I'm not trying to scare anyone, just want to know if anyone has heard of this! please let me know!  

[warmouth]

I have had an std for many many years and never been tested....for years I wud get tiny sores on my penis....they wud last approximately a week, then disappear. after all this time I now have pain in my penis and the tube seems to be purple with infection....I had two doctors say they cud find no problem....all they took was blood tests.....would appreciate any info. I am a 69 year old man and I would like to find some relief....

[Life360_Dave]

This is a very old post. If you have a question please post your own thread.

[lil313]

I understand that HSV 2 travels from the genital area to the spine through the nerve.  How long does it take to travel and infect the spine?

[lil313]

I understand that HSV 2 travels from the genital area to the spine through the nerve.  How long does it take to travel and infect the spine?

[sirena210]

thank you everyone, and I am sorry if I was annoying or impatient in wanting a response!! I just HAVE to let my friend know how misguided she is in her opinion that I am taking having herpes 2 lightly because it is a "deadly" virus!  Self righteous attitudes and alarmists are NOT what those of us with this STD need or deserve, and I will try and let her know that she needs to rethink this now that i have information from you all to back me up!

[IDTB]

As far as your question about possible "long term serious complications" in relation to having herpes, (which in general could include death in some cases but not exclusively)

The only 'possible' long term effects that I have ever read about are ocular herpes which is VERY rare, when oral herpes that is lying dormant could 'possibly' take a different route out of dormancy and enter the eye area, 'possibly' causing blindness. There is also the remote possibilty of herpes simplex 2 (and less commonly type 1) causing meningitis.

There's been 'some' discussion among some boards that herpes and Rheumatoid Arthritis can be connected in some instances. No studies to prove that to my knowledge.

All in all, I'd say none of these 'remote' possibilities are worth worrying about if you have herpes..

All this info is readily available on line so you would have been able to access it with a search.

[HTXgirl]

Hello Sirena. I am not a doctor nor a medical professional. However, reading the statistics and information provided by said professionals is quite easy to interpret: You are not going to die from Herpes. You can argue that there is always A CHANCE that you can die from complications so it is not 100% impossible. No one can tell you 100% that you are not going to die of ANY disease or virus. You could "possibly" die from pretty munch anything like the flu as bob said above, pneumonia, walking across the street, etc. Actually, you are more likely to get killed in a car accident then you are of dying from herpes WAY more! It isn't worth getting worked up over or arguing with your friends about...even thought technically, I think you should win the argument ;-)

[bobrope45]

No one is ignoring your question. As you might already know, Grace was away for a few days and she just now catching up with the new posts. That said, wait for her response, as she is the most experienced user around here.

Anyway, I'll give you my opinion (as someone from the biomedics field) so you can get some peace of mind. Herpes - HSV1 or HSV2 - can sometimes cause a systemic infection, which can obviously lead to death, as any bad systemic infection can. But such episodes are EXTREMELY rare and will most probably happen with people that are immunocompromised or suffer from comorbidities. Such systemic infections usually happen during the very first acquisition of the virus - meaning that well established infections (like yours) have no reason to become systemic all of a sudden, as your immunological system is already prepared to deal with the virus.

Even a flu can kill you. Unlucky events happen, but again - this is extremely rare, with very few reports on medical literature.

Grace, please correct me if I'm wrong. But in nutshell - genital herpes won't kill you; it will just annoy you from time to time.