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Treating a cold sore is not a pleasant experience. They are painful, embarrassing, and generally quite a hassle. And they always seem to come at the worst possible time.

One good thing about cold sores – they occur on the surface of your skin where you can easily take care of them. If they were an internal sore, like some diseases, they could be life threatening.

Treating a cold sore successfully means you must adjust the treatment based on the stage of your outbreak.

1. The first symptom is the itching stage. This tingling sensation indicates the movement of the herpes virus to the surface to replicate. This virus enters thousands of nerve cells, each one becoming a virus factory.

At this stage you should put something cold on the area. Ice cubes in a plastic bag work well. You can also use a can of soda. Cold really discourages the virus and can cause it to give up before it actually creates the sore.

2. If the virus enters the cells, hard little red bumps and swelling of the area occur. Applying ice for 15 minutes at a time can still work wonders at this stage. Treating a cold sore like this can slow down the virus and possibly stop it.

3. Now the sore appears as an open, weeping wound. This is the result of many cells being destroyed by the herpes virus. Now begins the healing period of your cold sore.

Ice will still provide great comfort, and reduce swelling. But, unfortunately, it slows down the healing process by driving blood away from the area.

During the open wound stage, treating a cold sore includes keeping it as sterile as possible by cleaning with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide often.

One very popular treatment, for this stage, is a product called Campho-Phenique. It numbs the sore for more comfort, and it combats infections.

4. Treating a cold sore, during all the healing period, should include applying heat. This will bring additional blood to the area for very fast healing results.

Continue to keep the area sterile. Also, continue applying the comfort treatment (numbing agent) of your choice. Keep in mind that most all drug store cold sore treatments are for comfort and have not proven to speed healing.

HOW TO APPLY HEAT. To apply healing warmth, you can use a washcloth or paper towel dipped in hot water. You also can dampen the washcloth and warm up in your microwave. Just be careful not to burn your skin. Such a trauma to the skin could create a new sore.

You might want to try treating a cold sore by applying a warm, wet tea bag. You get the benefit of healing warmth to shorten the outbreak duration.

You also will find the tea plant has ingredients especially good for quickly healing cold sores.

PLEASE USE CAUTION. Cold sores, which are another name for oral herpes, are extremely contagious. You can easily infect others or create new areas of infection on yourself.

Cold sores can easily be spread to other areas of your body including your fingertips. Anywhere the herpes virus can get through the skin will be a new cold sore trouble area. Especially dangerous is getting the virus in your eyes. This really happens, and it can cause damage to the cornea.

While treating a cold sore, try not to contaminate your fingers by touching the area. Always clean your hands thoroughly after treatment. Use cotton balls, swabs, or tissues to apply any liquids and for cleansing the sore. Use a hand sanitizing gel too.

Remember, apply cold when the sore is forming, and warmth when it is healing. Keep it clean and keep from touching the area with your bare fingers while treating a cold sore.

Cold sore treatments are essentially categorized into two broad groups, over-the-counter (OTC) medications and creams, and home cold sore remedies. In this article, we will look at OTC medications as well as home remedies for cold sores available for our use.

In case you do not know, cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus. Even this virus has two types, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is the one that normally causes ****** cold sores, though Type 2 has also been reported to cause sores on our face too even though it is mainly responsible for ******* sores. Though huge investments have been poured into researching for a cure for cold sores, unfortunately, the medical industry has yet to be able to formulate a complete cold sore treatment to eliminate cold sores. What we have in the market are only medications and creams that can soothe the pain and bring itch relief and in some cases, quicken the healing process. Natural cold sore treatment seems to have answers to curing cold sores but as there have not been conclusive medical researches done in this area, only those who have benefited personally can testify of their effectiveness.

Over-The-Counter (OTC) Medications and Creams

As mentioned, such a form of cold sore treatment is primarily intended to alleviate the pain, itchiness and discomfort to the sufferer. There are others that have antiviral and antibiotic properties that inhibit the cold sore lesion development and accelerate the healing process.

1. You can easily find products containing docosanol, benzocaine, lidocaine, camphor, zinc, lysine, tetracaine or phenol off the shelf that are effective against cold sores.

2. Lip balms containing the compound petrolatum are pretty effective moisturizers. They prevent cold sores from peeling, cracking and bleeding and offer pain relief.

Home Remedies for Cold Sores

Cold sore remedies are cheap and easy to prepare cold sore treatments.

1. Applying ice at first sign of tingling for about 20 minutes and repeated applications throughout the day is effective in slowing the cold sore lesion development.

2. Topical medication containing zinc is useful

3. Applying tea bags on your cold sores is another effective cold sore treatment. As tea contains tannic acid which is antiviral, the herpes simplex virus is suppressed.

4. L-lysine (2 to 4 g) may be consumed daily under the advice of your doctor.

These are some useful cold sore treatment methods. To learn more about how to cure your cold sores naturally with effective cold sore treatment and remedies, visit my blog.

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Cold sores also called as fever blisters. This infection spreads because of the herpes simplex viruses. These viruses are contagious and infection catches the body soon. Occurrence of the viruses can be observed through the tingling of lips, small and hard spots around the area of mouth and fingers. Herpes simplex viruses enter the body through mouth and then attack the nerve cells. From the nerve cells, they move towards the ganglia there, that lay in dormant state. When the suitable condition occur viruses gets activate and shows the presence through blisters.

Symptoms of the viruses include painful, small and fluid filled blisters come on red, raised and panic area of the skin. Symptoms of blisters may comprise paining and tingling of the skin. Tingling and paining of the skin called as the prodromes and precedes the blisters by one or two days. Duration of the blisters is about seven to ten days. Areas where blisters come frequently are lips, nostrils, fingers and chin. In rare cases, they may occur inside the mouth on gums and hard palate. All these symptoms can be observed after about 20 days of attack and when out breaks last for about seven to ten days. Usually the blisters forms, breaks after some time and then leaks stick fluid. After this process, a yellow crust forms and finally sloughs off to uncover pinkish skin.

Herpes simplex viruses of type I cause the cold sores. However, herpes simplex viruses of type II cause ******* herpes. Person can infect either in the childhood or when comes in the contact with person having active lesion. Another reason of spreading viruses is the sharing of eating utensils, razors and towels. Once viruses infect the body, they appear and reappear on the skin depending upon the conditions. In the suitable condition, they appear and in unfavorable conditions, they lay dormant. Cold sores may come in the active state when the person exposes more in the sunlight.

Body with low immune also gets attack by the viruses. Frequently more stress also activates the viruses and blisters breakouts. Therefore, to avoid the triggering of the blisters you have to avoid the stress and try for proper rest. As the viruses is contagious person need to avoid kissing as well as skin contact with the peoples suffering with active lesions. Pricking and itching blisters spreads the infection and therefore person should not touch the blisters. In case of accidental touch, wash hands immediately. This will prevent the spreading of infection in other parts of the body.

Along with these precautionary measures person must try to avoid triggering of the blisters. If possible, try to avoid condition of cold and flue as these can trigger the viruses in the body. Besides the precautionary measures, one has to take care of themselves. Regular application of over the counter (OTC) crèmes can give comfort. To decrease the pain from the blisters person may consume OTC pain reliever. In suppress and healing blisters ice and warm tea bags are useful.

There are a large number of home remedies for cold sores. In some cases these traditional treatments have been known to work as well as antiviral pills or numbing creams. One advantage of using a home remedy for cold sores is that treatment can begin immediately since there is no need to visit the doctor to get a prescription or go to the drugstore and choose between several creams. As soon as someone realizes they are developing a cold sore, they can begin the home remedy.

Some commonly known cold sores home remedies are considered effective. A lot of people who are prone to having cold sores usually benefit from these natural and cost-effective solutions. This disease should not be taken for granted. They need effective treatment and management to avoid worsening of the condition.

Remedies:

1.    Keep the cold sore clean and dry by washing it with a damp washcloth and soap once every two hours. Also, it needs to be completely drained of all fluid, so sterilze a needle with some rubbing alcohol and then puncture, drain, and dab up the fluid from the cold sore with a Kleenex or some tissue paper. If you’ve ever done this with a pimple then you know what I’m talking about.

2.    Put some nail polish remover over it with a q-tip once you’ve finished–this will soak up any and all fluid that it might seep out over the next 2 hours before you go through this procedure with it again. Keeping the cold sore completely dry is really key here.

3.    If you want to try the cold sore home remedy option of depriving the cold sore from oxygen and keeping it moist.

4.    Studies have shown that glycyrrhizic acid, an ingredient in licorice, stops the cold sore virus (Herpes Simplex 1) dead. So you can try chewing a licorice whip, just be sure it’s made from real licorice, as most “licorice” candy in the United States today is flavored with anise. If the ingredient list says “licorice mass,” then the product contains real licorice. You could also try buying some licorice powder and sprinkling it on the sore, or mix up a cream with a pinch of licorice power and a little bit of vegetable shortening, then apply to the cold sore.

5.    Don’t drink it–soak a cotton ball in milk and apply it to the cold sore to relieve pain. Better yet, if you feel the telltale tingling before the cold sore appears, go straight to the cold milk–it can help speed healing right from the get-go.

6.    You can take painkillers or apply a Benzocaine ointment to reduce the pain. If you care for yourself and your neighbor, avoid sharing of personal items. Towels and napkins are especially sensitive. If you touch the blisters, wash your hands with soap and water. Try unwind and relax. Stress can reactivate the virus. Home remedies for cold sores are very useful. However they are not effective in recurrent situations. Visit your doctor for further investigations.

What are cold sores? If you want to know, this article was written for you. Now you will know exactly what cold sores are – and what cold sores are not.

Cold sores, also called fever blisters and oral herpes, are painful, unsightly blisters that normally occur on the edge of the lips. They can also appear in other locations, such as nostrils, neck, cheek – and even on the fingertips.

Cold sores may also appear on the roof of the mouth or on the gums. This is very rare. But, because of this, cold sores are often confused with canker sores.

Here are some differences between the two that may help you determine what are canker sores and what are cold sores.

1. Canker sores always occur inside the mouth, usually on the softer tissue.

2. Cold sores are caused by a virus – canker sores are not.

3. Cold sores are contagious – canker sores are not.

Cold sores are very common. Nearly nine out of ten people worldwide carry the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores. Only about 66% of these know what cold sores are because they get them regularly. Two strains of this virus – herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 – are responsible for cold sores and ******* herpes sores.

Type 1 is most prevalent in ****** sores. Type 2 is most apparent in below-the-waist sores. As far as we can tell, sores created by either type are identical in every respect. They appear the same, feel the same and last just as long.

Here are the main cold sore symptoms that define the five different stages of cold sores. Average duration from first itching to final healing can range from 18 to 28 days – depending on your health and the treatments you use.

1. Itching and tingling in the target area just prior to the outbreak.

2. Swelling of the area along with formation of small and painful fluid-filled blisters.

3. Large, open sore develops when these little blisters break and merge.

4. Headaches, fever and swollen lymph glands under the jaw are painfully apparent.

5. Yellowish scab forms over the sore and heals without a scar.

When first infected, these symptoms may not appear for 15 to 20 days – or not at all. Often, initial symptoms are so mild that you may not know you have been infected. These may include fever and sore throat. The herpes virus, for the most part, will lie dormant in your nerve ganglia (the nerve roots) below the skin.

Now, when conditions are right, it will travel to the surface to replicate. The virus, being exceedingly small, will enter a nerve cell. It then takes control and forces the cell to create copies of itself. Once the cell is full, the controlling virus destroys the cell to release the new virus. Millions of such exploded cells in close proximity cause the swelling and open sore.

Cold sores are contagious during the entire cold sore event. You are extremely contagious once the sore has broken open – until it is totally healed. The fluid that weeps from the sore is teeming with active herpes virus. Kiss or touch is the normal means of spreading this virus. If you have a cold sore, be particularly cautious around infants or others. Also, be conscious that if the virus gets in the eye, it can cause cornea blisters. The permanent result is damaged vision.

Cold sore remedies may include over-the-counter creams and ointments. These will provide comfort, but do not expect them to speed healing. Fever, headache and swollen glands can be treated with your usual medicine for fever and headaches.

Using ice, particularly before the scab forms, will give pain relief, reduce the heat, and help drive the herpes virus back into hibernation. Keep the wound clean with alcohol on a cotton ball or swab.

Prevention includes care in not spreading to others or other parts of your own body. Avoid kissing when active cold sores are present. Keep hands clean. Cold sores itch and hurt a lot. Only touch sores with a cotton ball or tissue. Avoid sharing items with others, such as towels, when you or they have an active cold sore.

As we have seen, cold sores are ****** sores caused by the herpes simplex virus. We have also seen that they are extremely contagious to others as well as to your self. Finally, in reviewing what are cold sores, we talked about basic cold sore care.

The good news is there are newly discovered and simply amazing natural cold sore remedies coming out all the time now. Some of these can cut the healing time in half, or more. And can actually prevent them in the future. Not every cold sore remedy works for everyone. You will need to do some trial-and-error to find what works for you.

What are cold sores? For most folks, they are a source of much pain, embarrassment and irritation. But, with a little research and testing, there is simply no reason for you to suffer from cold sores again.

Knowing how to heal a cold sore quickly could be critical if you have an important event in the near future.

There is no good time to have a cold sore. But why do cold sores always seem to happen at the very worst possible time?

Most often, cold sores occur because of physical or mental stress. Anxiety about an upcoming wedding, job interview, or other special event in your life will create stress. This stress then affects your pH balance, your hormones, and your immune system. Quite often illnesses such as cold and flu will also trigger an outbreak.

The herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores has an early warning system because it lives in your nerve cells. It can sense the slightest change in your temperature, stress levels, immune strength, and pH balance. When the conditions are favorable, the virus will head to the surface along your nerve fibers. Once at the surface, it will create new virus through its replication procedure thus producing the herpes sore.

Your body knows how to heal a cold sore and will do so without any additional help or expensive treatments.

Provided you do not get a secondary bacterial infection, the duration of your outbreak could be three to four weeks. If you are like me, you do not want to suffer that long. The quicker you heal your sore, the sooner you can get on with your life.

The herpes virus needs three things to successfully replicate.

1. The virus needs plenty of arginine in the cell. Arginine is a protein that is a critical building block for creating new herpes viruses. Lysine, another protein, has proven helpful in healing and preventing cold sores. Lysine does this by replacing some of the arginine in the cells, thus reducing or preventing the cells ability to create clones of the virus.

Basically, if the herpes virus gets to the surface and cannot find enough arginine in the cells, it often retreats. Many folks eat high lysine foods prior to or during a cold sore event, and avoid high arginine foods. For many folks, healing cold sores fast has been as simple as taking 1,000 milligrams to 3,000 milligrams of lysine in capsule supplements during an outbreak.

High lysine foods to eat are most meats and dairy products. Cheese, milk and yogurt are excellent. High arginine foods to avoid would be nuts, seeds, grains, and chocolate. You need to find your own personal balance here for healing cold sores.

2. The herpes virus also needs a warm, moist environment. Applying ice as soon as you feel that first tingle or itch will greatly reduce or delay the cold sore. Delaying the outbreak just a few days can get you through that important event. Any cold object will do – such as a can of Coke. The quicker, the better.

3. The herpes virus prefers an acid environment. When in tip-top health, your pH balance should be around 7.4, which is slightly alkaline. When it drops below 7 on the pH scale, then your system is turning acid. Any stress, flu, colds, or too much sun will cause your body to move toward the acid side of normal. Avoid eating acid foods, such as tomatoes, citrus, carbonated soda or anything with vinegar if it will touch the cold sore area. You want nothing acid around that sore. Following this rule alone for healing a cold sore, along with continual cleaning of the wound with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, could cut your healing duration of the outbreak by 50%.

You are unique and you must take what works for others and fine tune it for your particular needs. Hopefully, now that you are armed with the knowledge of what works for others, you now have a better idea on how to heal a cold sore.

Cold sore symptoms occur in stages whenever the herpes simplex virus is active in your system.

Let me share with you now how your cold sore symptoms come about and what you can do about them.

Where the virus first enters your body, it will choose a set of nerve fibers nearby that will be its home for life. Your cold sores from this infection will always occur in the same place.

Say, for example, you always get your cold sores (oral herpes) on your upper right lip. That is one infection. If you start getting cold sores on your lower left lip, that is a new infection area.

Following are 5 stages of cold sore symptoms that pretty much tells the whole story of these miserable events.

1. EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

Because the herpes simplex virus lives in your nerve fibers, you will get an early warning before they attack your surface nerve cells to create oral herpes cold sores.

When the herpes virus becomes active, it wiggles up the nerve fiber to the surface of your lip, nose or cheek. That movement you will sense as an itching, tingling or burning of the target area.

Your immediate action is required. As soon as you become aware of these signs, apply ice or some other cold object (can of Coke) to the area. This will definitely slow down the progression of the sore.

Sometimes it stops the virus cold and prevents the sore.

If you miss this opportunity, then the other cold sore symptoms come quickly.

2. PIMPLES AND SWOLLEN LIP.

Painful little pimples will start to pop up. The herpes virus has entered the surface cells and is forcing the cells to create new virus.

Your defenses kick in, and the battle begins. This can cause fever, headaches and swollen lymph glands under the near jaw. Depending on the size of the outbreak, even the lymph glands in your armpit may swell.

As the cells fill up the target area becomes quite swollen and painful.

Applying cold compresses at this point will give great comfort and discourage the virus from further damage.

3. OPEN ULCER COLD SORES.

When the cells are swollen to capacity with new virus, they are destroyed to spill out hoards of new virus particles. This is what creates the typical open ulcer cold sores.

In self-defense, your body floods the wound with a fluid to wash away as much virus as possible. This fluid is teaming with active virus and is VERY contagious.

Wash the wound and wash your hands continuously. Use tissue or paper towels soaked in alcohol to cleanse the sore. Throw away and wash your hands thoroughly. You do not want to spread it to a new site.

4. RECONSTRUCTION OF DAMAGED CELLS BEGINS.

The breaking open of cells (creating the open wound) marks the end of the damage process. Now you body begins reconstructing the destroyed cells and skin.

The first step in this process is the covering of the wound with a yellowish crust or scab to protect from bacterial infection.

Apply olive oil to the scab on a regular basis. This will keep it soft and pliable – and less likely to ***** open. You will experience pain if it cracks open – and this slows down the healing process.

During this period, you will still have fever, headaches and painful lymph glands. These cold sore symptoms will decrease rapidly from day to day.

5. FRUSTRATING FINAL HEALING STAGE.

After a few days, maybe a week, the scab is gone revealing new skin. There is usually a red tinge to the skin, which indicates that healing is still taking place underneath.

You may feel normal and completely healed but you are not. The flu-like symptoms are gone, and your lymph glands are back to normal. Your energy and confidence have returned.

Keep in mind, please, that you are still quite contagious until after the redness is gone. This seems to go on forever and is very frustrating. You want your social life back.

Your best bet for comfort, and to really speed along the healing of your sore, is to apply warm compresses as often as possible.

These five stages of cold sore symptoms and oral herpes, may vary from person to person, but are the basic cold sore symptoms you should see. If yours are much different, it might not hurt to see a medical professional.

You should search out and try some good cold sore treatment options. Cold Sores are no fun. The fewer you have, and the quicker you heal them, the less you will have to deal with these cold sore symptoms.

What causes cold sores for you? What is the one big trigger that causes these painful and embarrassing sores in your life? Everyone is different and each cold sore event unique. But for the vast majority of cold sore victims, what causes their cold sore is quite similar.

You do not realize it now, but in the next few moments you will learn exactly what causes your cold sores and what you can do right now to eliminate them.

First, let us not forget that the root cause of all cold sores is the herpes simplex virus. There are eight known types of herpes, two of which have been identified as causes of cold sores. These are herpes simplex type 1 or type 2. Nearly everyone in the world carries these highly contagious viruses. Normally, this virus is dormant. Should it become active, it will begin the replication process on your lip or nose. This is basically what causes cold sores.

The key, then, to learning what causes cold sores is actually to determine what the triggers are that causes the your cold sore virus to wake up.

Stress is claimed to be the main trigger for causing cold sores. Most common stress triggers that create these sores are illnesses or injuries. Cold sores often occur during a bout with the cold or flu virus. The cold and flu season is also the cold sore season, summer or winter.

Injury to the target area is a common trigger that causes cold sores. Sunlight is excellent for your skin, but sunburn is not. Sunburn commonly triggers outbreaks. Burning your lip with hot pizza, or biting it, or kissing someone with an active cold sore can cause cold sores too.

Any mental stress manifests itself physically, and is quite often responsible for causing a cold sore. Some common “mental stress” triggers are upcoming events such as weddings, class reunions or presentations in front of people.

Eliminating stress is the most often suggested solution for reducing, or preventing outbreaks. Good luck on that, my friend. It is a cop-out statement by folks who really do not understand what it is like to suffer like us.

Face it – no one can totally avoid stress in life. Each person may deal with it differently, both physically and mentally, but the fact remains that stress is part of being alive and active – quite often beyond our control.But we can control what stress actually does to our bodies.

Truth is – stress, through various ways, causes the body to become acid. When this happens, the many viruses living in us see an opportunity to become active. Herpes virus loves an acid situation and will become active if and when that happens.

Our acid and alkaline balance, called pH balance, is very fragile. A pH of seven is neutral. Anything below seven is acid, and above is alkaline. The ideal pH for optimal health is an alkaline 7.4 pH. Your body will do whatever it can to keep your pH near that goal. All minerals help, but calcium is the primary mineral for this purpose.

The ultimate trigger that causes cold sores is an acid body pH below 7.

The ultimate solution, then, is keeping our pH above 7. We can do this with the foods we eat and the nutrients we absorb. The base recommendation for anyone is taking a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. This alone helps greatly to keep your pH in the normal range.

Acid forming foods include chocolate (ouch!), table salt, sugar, soybean, soft drinks, most meat and coffee. Alkaline forming foods include sea salt, stevia, asparagus, garlic, mineral water, wild rice, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, olive oil, flax, and, believe it or not, most citrus fruit.

Now do not panic. You do not have to eat like a rabbit. Your diet should simply provide variety and balance. And, be sure to take a very good vitamin and mineral supplement. This alone can prevent a lot of problems.

There you have it. You now know more than 75% of those cold sore victims. Keeping your body pH above neutral will help prevent the ultimate trigger that causes cold sores.

Before we touch on how to get rid of a cold sore I am going to go over prevention. As they say “Prevention is better than cure” There is no one active way to prevent cold sores completely, however you can greatly reduce the frequency they occur or help to prevent getting the virus, which causes it with a few simple steps.

If there are blisters or cold sores on any part of your body avoid skin contact and kissing; the herpes virus that causes cold sores can be spread through skin-to-skin contact. When a cold sore is present avoid the sharing of personal items like soap etc.

When you have an outbreak wash your hands and be careful when touching other parts of your body. Cold sores can actually appear anywhere on the body so if you have one and touch your eye for example you can spread it to other areas of the body.

Avoid things which can cause cold sores. This can include stress on the body including illness, not enough sleep or damage caused by long exposure to the sun. When you have a cold sore cover it if possible. This will help prevent the spreading of the virus.

Now for how to get rid of a cold sore. You can get what is known as Triple Omega 3-6-1. This contains flax oil, fish oil and what they call borage oil. It comes in the form of capsules. Break open a capsule and put it on your sore.

Then there is Lysine. This is an amino acid. Here is what you do. Take two 500 mg tablets. Do this the minute you feel a cold sore coming on. Then the next day take another two 500 mg tablets.

You can use garlic. Basically cut a clove of garlic and apply it to the affected area. Buy Aloe Vera in a cream or gel form, if you can get the sap directly from the plant then that is even better. Again apply to the cold sore. You can make a cup of green tea. When done drinking it, let the tea bag cool and put it on your sore.

If you would like more on how you can stop cold sores, then click the following link.

When someone gets a cold sore or knows someone who has one, it is not uncommon for them to wonder, “Are cold sores contagious?” And the answer to this question is yes, cold sores are contagious in more ways than one. The herpes simplex virus that usually causes cold sores is easily spread–even if the infected person does not have an active cold sore.

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. Once the virus infects an individual, it will remain in that person’s body forever. Though HSV-1 is latent or dormant for much of the time, it is still present in the body. The virus is usually present near the person’s mouth, but it can spread all over the body. It is important to understand that an infected person can spread HSV-1 to others even while not currently experiencing an outbreak.

One of the most common ways that HSV-1 is spread is through an object an infected person used, like a toothbrush or tube of lip balm. If particles of the HSV-1 virus are transferred to an object and it is used by someone else, that person runs a strong risk of infection.

People are most likely to become infected by HSV-1 by exposure to someone with a cold sore. A cold sore goes through several phases before it disappears. The tingle stage is the first. At this point, the cold sore has not yet formed, but the virus has been reactivated. The risk of spreading the virus increases at this time, but the risk is highest when the sore is in the weeping stage. This is when the sore bursts open and expels a clear liquid. Even during the crusting stage, when the sore is scabbed over, the risk of infection is greater than normal.

It is important to note that HSV-1 can not only spread between people, but also to different parts of the infected person’s body. Herpetic whitlow, the HSV-1 infection of the fingers is particularly painful. People must be sure to wash their hands thoroughly when they have a cold sore to prevent the spread of HSV-1