Genital herpes
Genital herpes is a lifelong infection in which herpes simplex virus establishes latency in sacral sensory ganglia after primary infection, so the virus (not just the initial outbreak) remains present for life and can reactivate as recurrent lesions.
First principles
Primary infection is where the virus first invades and travels to the nerve
Herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 or HSV-2) infects epithelial cells at the point of contact, causing local viral replication and cell death that produces the characteristic painful vesicles and ulcers of primary infection. From the epithelium, the virus enters sensory nerve endings and travels by retrograde axonal transport to the dorsal root ganglia of the sacral plexus, where it establishes latency: a state in which the viral genome persists in neurons without producing new virus particles or symptoms. This journey from skin to ganglion, not just the initial rash, is what defines herpes as a lifelong infection rather than an eradicable one.
Educational content pending clinical review. Not medical advice.