Cold sores are very common and are caused by the type one Herpes Simplex virus. They usually occur in the mouth and face and last for up to several days before disappearing. They are very contagious and are spread through contact with saliva, and also by skin to skin contact. Always wash your hands after touching cold sores which are highly contagious don’t touch your eyes and make sure you don’t share items used for personal hygiene. Cold sores to the person infected can make them feel ugly, and on top of that they are annoying and can be very painful painful. A cold sores is actually a blister that contains fluid and they usually appear on the roof of the mouth, lips or gums. Cold sores are contagious, and the HSV-1 virus that causes cold sores is present in an estimated 80% of the population. Most people are infected by HSV-1 at an early age, usually by the time they are five years old.
Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 are two strains of the Herpes virus family, Herpesviridae, which cause infections in humans. During reactivation, virus is produced in the cell and transported outwardly via the nerve cell’s axon to the skin. Herpes is one of the most common viral infections in the world. Herpes is contracted through direct skin contact (not necessarily in the genital area) with an infected person, and less frequently by indirect contact (for instance, by sharing lip balm or a virus infested shared towel). The virus travels through tiny breaks in the skin (or mucous membranes in the mouth and genital areas), so, healthy skin and mucous membranes are normally an effective barrier to infection.
As already mentioned a cold sore is caused by a herpes virus Type 1 and they are very contagious. The initial infection may be confused with a cold or the flu, but in fact has nothing whatsoever to do with a cold or the flu, despite the name. Cold Sores are like allergies, you may face it more frequent at certain stage of life, and you may also be free of outbreak for years. Because the virus lives in the nervous system, things that can typically cause an outbreak are when your immune system is at a low ebb, for instance after an infection or illness, or when you are particularly stressed or anxious about something. That is possibly why people get outbreaks just before important events such as interviews or family gatherings because they are nervous or stressed about the particular event and this weakens the immune system and triggers the virus.
The one thing about this virus is once you have it, you have it for life and although there is nothing you can do to get rid of the virus permanently, there are certain things you can do to try to reduce outbreaks. Some of the things that you will hear about are good tips that will work for you in helping you to control your outbreaks, whilst others at best are old wives tales. So lets take a look at what you can do.
One of the most recommended things to do is to get Lysine into your diet. Lysine is an essential amino acid, required by the body which cannot synthesize it itself and therefore requires we get it through food sources. It is used to make protein, which is required to produce hormones, enzymes, antibodies, and body tissue. Lysine and arginine are two amino acids much talked about in their relation to cold sores. To create new cold sore virus, the cell needs certain materials.
Lysine is very popular as a natural treatment for cold sores and fever blisters. It does work quite well as an oral cold sore remedy but not too hot as a topical treatment. Lysine may also be applied topically to the sores. Lysine can be purchased at health food stores, and online retailers.
Another popular trick is that whenever you feel the tingling sensation that suggest you are about to get an outbreak, is to get ice on it straight away. This mainly helps to stop the pain that you may get with the cold sore by numbing it, but some people also claim that it stops the outbreak from occurring.
Also there are many over the counter treatments available from pharmacists, some are better than others, but on the whole most of them take about ten days before your cold sore goes away, which funnily enough is about the same amount of time for a cold sore to disappear anyway, so possibly you may as well just save your money and let the sore heal up naturally.
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