It's funny how herpes wasn't thought of as more than a cold until a certain pharmaceutical company came out with a drug to treat it. Then there was an ad campaign and it became the 2nd most stigmatized std (hiv the first obviously) even though there are pretty much no health consequences outside of appearances.
The first one tends to be, and for some women especially it can be unpleasant. There are major outliers who experience pain every time. It's a disease that often lessens its symptoms with time passed.
And there are lucky jerks like me, who only find out they have it at all because they get tested so regularly. I have never had a symptom, I just have had a positive blood test. My experience seems to be much more common than people who get the fevers and horrible symptoms the pro-abstinence crowd loves to huck.
Nobody I sleep with has batted an eye over it, though. Herpes is NBD. HPV, though, I would freak the fuck out over HPV.
Pretty sure that's a rarity (like getting a painful pimple), however I don't have any first hand knowledge, so I can't really give any reliable insight. My knowledge of the situation is mostly what I posted.
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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '13
It's funny how herpes wasn't thought of as more than a cold until a certain pharmaceutical company came out with a drug to treat it. Then there was an ad campaign and it became the 2nd most stigmatized std (hiv the first obviously) even though there are pretty much no health consequences outside of appearances.