Oral herpes overview
Oral herpes is an infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. The virus causes painful sores on the lips, gums, tongue, roof of the mouth and inside the cheeks. It also can cause symptoms such as fever and muscle aches.
The herpes simplex virus only affects humans. Mouth sores most commonly occur in children aged 1-2 years, but they can affect people at any age and any time of the year.
People contract herpes by touching infected saliva, mucous membranes, or skin. Because the virus is highly contagious, most people have been infected by at least one herpes subtype before adulthood.
After you have been infected with the herpes virus, it has a rather unique ability to proceed through three stages:
- Primary infection: The virus enters your skin or mucous membrane and reproduces. During this stage, oral sores and other symptoms, such as fever, may develop. The virus may not cause any sores and symptoms. You may not even know that you have it. This is called asymptomatic infection. Asymptomatic infections occur twice as often as the disease with symptoms.
- Latency: From the infected site, the virus moves to a mass of nervous tissue in your spine called the dorsal root ganglion. There, the virus reproduces again and becomes inactive.
- Recurrence: When you experience certain emotional or physical stresses, the virus may reactivate and cause new sores and symptoms. One such stress may be a viral illness such as the common cold, hence the frequently used name of “cold sores”.
