Herpes outbreaks are often seen as a challenging thing to manage due to their nature and impact on the patient as well as the people around them, especially their partners. As Herpes can be spread easily by merely coming in contact with the fluid from the sore or blisters of the patients, it is imperative to understand its outbreak. Knowing the approximate duration of the Herpes outbreak can be important as the patient may start the treatment and maintain safety measures for the people around.

In this blog, we will go through the factors that influence the duration of herpes outbreaks, common timelines for different types of herpes infections, and strategies for coping with and reducing the duration of outbreaks etc.

What is herpes?

Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the herpes simplex virus causing blisters and sores on and around different body parts.

There are two types, Oral herpes and genital herpes, HSV1 or Oral herpes, where the virus affects the oral area,  causing blisters and sores on the mouth and the area around it.

The HSV-2 also known as genital herpes, here the virus affects the genital area, causing blisters and sores in and around the genitals.

How long do oral herpes outbreaks last? vs How long do genital herpes outbreaks last?

Type of Herpes	Primary Outbreak Duration (FIrst occurrence)	Subsequent Outbreak Duration
HSV-1 (Oral)	1-2 weeks	7-10 days (usually shorter)
HSV-2 (Genital)	2-4 weeks	7-12 days (usually shorter)

Stage-wise Duration of Herpes Outbreak

Stage of Outbreak	Symptoms	Duration
Prodrome (pre-outbreak)	Tingling, itching, burning sensation	Hours to a few days
Early outbreak	Redness, swelling, small fluid-filled blisters	2-3 days
Peak of outbreak	Blisters may burst, causing ulcers; pain, and discomfort	4-5 days
Healing	Ulcers crust over and begin to heal; pain decreases	1-2 weeks
Complete healing	Scabs fall off; skin returns to normal	2-4 weeks (may vary)

Disclaimer: Durations mentioned are approximated from reference sources such as Medical journals, and magazines and can vary from person to person. Outbreaks may also occur intermittently over time, with varying degrees of severity and duration. This is just information and not a substitute for any medical professional, please consult healthcare personnel for accurate diagnosis and management of herpes outbreaks.

Other Factors influencing herpes outbreak duration are as follows

• Immune system strength: A robust immune system can suppress the virus and thereby reduce the period of the outbreak. Thus, better the immune system, smaller the outbreak period.A stronger immune system can help reduce the duration and severity of outbreaks.

 

• Herpes Type: There are 2 types of Herpes virus, HSV-1 which is the oral herpes and HSV-2 which is genital herpes. HSV-1 may result in shorter and less frequent outbreaks versus HSV-2. The same thing is reflected in the table above, you can see that HSV-2 primary and subsequent outbreak duration is longer.

 

• Infection vs Recurrence: The first outbreak is often more severe and longer in duration than the subsequent outbreaks. This happens as the body has to develop the antibodies during the initial or first outbreak than compared to the subsequent ones.

 

• Stress Levels: It is medically proven that physical or emotional stress can trigger outbreaks and have an impact on their duration. Stress management using various techniques such as yoga, meditation, or light exercising can also reduce the frequency of outbreaks.

 

• Undergoing Treatment: Certain medications such as acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir are used to reduce the duration and severity of the outbreak.

 

• Hormonal fluctuations: Changes in hormones due to menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause can affect the duration and frequency of recurrence of the outbreak.

 

• Way of Living: Factors such as a high-calorie diet or sugary diet or diet with low nutrients, lack of sleep, and too much alcohol consumption can weaken the immune system, and can potentially prolong outbreaks.

 

• Exposure to sunlight: Sunlight can trigger an outbreak and potentially increase the duration of HSV-1.

 

• Beginning of the treatment: Starting the antiviral treatment at the first sign of an outbreak (prodrome stage) can help minimize the severity and duration.

 

How long do herpes outbreaks last with and without medication?

As mentioned earlier, certain antibodies may help reduce the duration of Herpes outbreak. The following table shows the duration of the Herpes outbreak with and without medication.

	Duration (Without Medication)	Duration (With Medication)
Initial Outbreak	2 to 4 weeks	3 to 7 days
Recurrent Outbreaks	2 to 3 weeks	1 to 3 days

Thus it is evident, that the Herpes outbreaks can last for quite different lengths of time in different people and depending on whether or not medication is taken.

 

How long are cold sores contagious?

We are going into the real science of how long you are infectious during an outbreak. Sadly, you can become contagious up to 7 days before you exhibit symptoms of a cold sore outbreak. There’s a stage called viral shedding, where your skin is actually contagious even though you can’t feel or see anything on it. And this is the reason why HSV-1 and HSV-2 are transmitted so often while no one is attempting to spread it, ignorance makes knowledge more difficult.

Another prevalent misconception is that, after it scabs on the skin, some individuals believe it to be non-contagious. That is equally untrue, though you are genuinely infectious to spread HSV 1 or HSV 2 to other people till nothing is visible on your lip. I refer to those terms interchangeably because most people associate HSV-1 with fever blisters or cold sores and HSV-2 with genital herpes.

But a little known fact is, up to 40% of the time, genital herpes is actually caused by the HSV-1 virus. Now, these viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2) are very similar, but they hit your body in the same way. Once you have them, they’ll be in you forever (virus), and most of the time they are dormant until your immune system malfunctions or weakens and the virus tries to proliferate. It will reach this tipping point where it begins to proliferate out of control if your immune system isn’t powerful enough to keep it at away and at such point an outbreak occurs. 

Protection from Herpes

As herpes is a non-curable disease, it is important that we should avoid contracting it as this may change our lives forever, especially with genital herpes. Besides the sores and the blisters visible on your body during the outbreak, herpes will change the way you date, how you establish physical contact, your diet etc. There are a few factors you should keep in mind to avoid getting contracted by herpes and they are as follows.

Know the medical history of your partner: Have a word or get tested for STD, herpes in particular when you know you’ll establish physical contact with the person.

Use protection: Have that barrier between you and your partner if you are not aware of their sexual health, although not foolproof it may still protect you up to some extent.

Avoid physical contact with the blisters or sores, if the liquid enters your mucous membrane (eyes, mouth, genitalia, or anus) then the person has higher chances of getting infected

Conclusion

So, to conclude, we have seen how the duration of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 differs, with HSV-1 lasting for a shorter duration compared to HSV-2.

We have also seen the stage-wise bifurcation of the duration of the Herpes outbreak and the other factors affecting the Herpes breakdown.

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