Viral infections of vagina

[DiDiva]

Hey.  Does anyone know what viral infections you can get of the vagina through sex, other than herpes and warts?

Also, does anyone know where I can find a FULL list of all stds, their symptoms and treatment, other than just the normal, more common stds such as chlamydia etc.  Just keep coming across the same common list - what are the uncommon ones?

Thanks a lot guys.

[DiDiva]

Hey Grace, sorry to ask again but can you tell me if there are any other viral infections that recur such as herpes? And where this is a list of all stds if you're aware of one?  Then I won't bother you again until I've seen the doc, then I'll update you with what I find out - if you're interested of course!  (OMG my skin is on fire!  Ouch.)

[gracefromHHP]

best of luck!!

[DiDiva]

Hey thanks Grace.  I'll have a look.  So if a normal virus would have run its course by now, it's either a recurring virus like herpes (are there any other recurring viruses in the vagina from sex?) or a bacterial or fungal infection.  Is that correct?  It can't be anything else from sex? Or can people 'catch' medical conditions from each other -I'm considering anything at the minute :(    I am inching closer to try and get the right questions to ask the doctors as to what to test for.  Thanks for your help.  

That's why I am asking about rare stds.  I read somewhere that cdc states around 50 stds.  Is this true?  I can't find a list of ALL stds anywhere!  I'm at the stage of ticking them off one by one!

On a side to this, just for your info - and I don't imagine you can do anything about it for one minute, but just need to offload if that's ok.  I really can't take this anymore.  My life is total misery:  My symptoms are back today and are horrible. The hot stinging burning bum and thighs with some red spots that itch and burn, is sooooo distracting and uncomfortable. My face is burning up too.  My throat is raw and lips are raw and peeling with a burn to them (not that that bit really went away). And the internal swelling and pain in the vagina, with discharge and an itchy burn is just plain horrible!!!!!!  I'll try to get to doc in the next couple of days to see if they can have a look again, but I'm not having much luck at the minute.  Sooooo miserable and depressed with all this.  I want my life back.  Ok, moan over, thanks.

[gracefromHHP]

correct, a virus would've ran its course by now for you.  

sometimes it just totally sucks to be female :(  

did I recommend femdophilus for you on the herpes forum? google it - it's by jarrow company in the US and you might want to take it once or twice a day for a few months to rebuild your 'good' vaginal bacteria to help kick whatever is going on.  

[DiDiva]

Wow you really know your stuff.  

So normal viruses you pick up won't be present in genitals, so only way to get a genital viral infection is to get from someone else's genitals or through a dirty hand that touched the genital area, is that right yes?

So mmmmmm I'm thinking that because I have had horrible symptoms for months and months now that is isn't a normal viral thing as it would have run it's course.  But I've been treated for yeast and bv and other antibiotics but nothing has kicked whatever this infection is.  Whatever it is, my body suffered a lot.  I have never been so ill in all my life and in so much pain and discomfort when it first happened (nealry 2 weeks after this guy) which is why I initially thoughts herpes...but think I'm moving on from that, finally!  I've now been given 2 weeks of Metronidazole and Ofloxacin and been told these are strong and will kick anything bacterial.  But I'm not so sure it is bacterial as from what I've read on here, it presents as puss spots but I get sore swollen inside with cuts on my vagina and raw sort of peeling skin on my lips. Which makes me think viral. Time will tell if these tablets do anything.  God I hope so!

[gracefromHHP]

same symptoms as everything else - discharge, itching, pain etc.  have had a viral uti myself and it was a p.i.a!

no, anything you pick up from respiratory contact isn't going to present in the genitals.

you've been following the forums for a few weeks now, think of how many posts say they had symptoms for a week but they went away and such or they self treated with otc yeast and things got better - you don't go to be seen and get tested, you never realize it was just a virus that infected you and ran its course.

[DiDiva]

Wow.  Awesome.  I am so shocked.  Do you ever speak to people who have a viral infection of the vagina or penis and have symptoms?  And what are the symptoms?  Is it just itching and swelling or can a random virus cause lesions/break in the skin as well?  This is amazing.  So it is the same as herpes, that when the vagina gets infected with any virus, from the penis mouth or hand, does the virus live in the bottom of the spine and just infect the area those nerves supply or does it go throughout the body so the saliva will have the same virus? And vice versa, if you pick up a virus in general through air particles so feel a bit run down, can this virus be present in the penis? And yes you are totally right, the body is amazing and it is surprising we aren't sick more!

[gracefromHHP]

yep - from the penis or the mouth with oral sex. even just from hand to genital contact too if the hands weren't washed first. makes you wonder why we don't have more problems eh? our bodies really are wonderful things that for the most part take care of themselves. We actually keep too clean in general and kill off all the protective bacteria we naturally have which leads us to be more vulnerable to so many things :(  

you can have viral uti's and viral vaginitis.  usually once symptoms have disappeared, they've run their course and are no longer an issue.  

[DiDiva]

Goodness.  So is it possible, that someone can present to a sexual health clinic with lots of horrible symptoms, and if the standard stds come back negative, they could have caught a virus from a penis which will just have to run it's course until symptoms no longer happen in the vagina?  Is that correct?  I had NO idea this could happen.  I have never heard of any other infection other than yeast, bv and stds.  How come you never hear of this happening?  You'd think people would talk about it more.  I can understand why it is not tested for if it is not life long and no treatment.  I'm shocked to hear of viruses in the vagina.  Are there certain symptoms that indicate it is a virus in the vagina?  And how do you know when it has run it's course and no longer infectious.  And is it only viruses that are present in the genitals be passed to genitals or does the body work in the way that say, a head cold or glandular fever etc can be passed through vaginal fluid - is the virus present in the whole body or just the head, (like herpes goes to certain bits in the spine) does that make sense?

[gracefromHHP]

there are many viruses that you can transmit to the urogenital tract. outside of research, we really don't test for them because all viruses have to run their course - we have no real treatments for most of them.  the majority of them are not lifelong like herpes and hpv are though which is why we don't waste time or money testing for them regularly. make any sense at all?

[DiDiva]

Really Grace?  I'm confused now. My gyn said there is no other viral infection you can get from sex other than herpes and warts, but my doc said you can get vagina viral infections but they are rare and doesn't know much about it.  And now you're saying you can get a large number of different viral infections in the vagina. Do these produce symtpms? So if you can't test for them, and I assume can't treat them cause it's viral, then is someone just gonna have it for life and continue to pass it on to other sex partners.  If so wouldn't you hear much more about this? I'm really confused about this. And how do you get tested for the uncommon stds, whatever they are, cause it seems that the normal llist is the only one docs work off and if all is clear then you're fine , there's no talk about other types that could be causing symtoms, even as if there aren't any other infections other than the common list.  So confused.  

question45, wishing you the best too.

[question45]

DDiva, I wish you the best, read your post and it's much like the distress I am in... tests, I don't believe them. symptoms, I do.... hang in there, One stupid night messed my life up for life... take care and I hope all gets better.. My life is changed and filled with regret and sadness. My partner left and now what.

[gracefromHHP]

sweetie there is no possible way we can list all of the viral infections you can get in your genital area. they fill textbooks with them, simple lists won't do it!!!

we have our "usual" std lists. almost anything can be transmitted through the direct skin on skin and intimate contact of 2 bodies close together having sex.

we also can't really test easily for viral infections in general. usually it's plain ole luck when you have something outside of the usual std's detected during an exam.

grace