If you have oral herpes virus infection, do not worry so much. It happens to a majority of us, and it is one of the common viral infections in the world. In fact, the statistics of oral herpes infected individuals reach up to 80% of the American population.

The oral herpes virus infection can be a difficult disease to deal with, and the symptoms involved are difficult to deal with, too. The primary external manifestation of oral herpes is the appearance of cold sores, also commonly known as fever blisters, usually around the lip or mouth area.

The Cold Sore Virus

Cold sores are caused by a viral infection. But, what virus causes fever blisters? Well, if you have fever blisters, you are 99% likely to have oral herpes. Oral herpes or herpes labialis is a condition caused by the first type of herpes simple virus, or the hsv-1. The hsv-1 is also known to be the ‘cold sore virus’.

Oral Herpes Symptoms

The severity of oral herpes viral infection symptoms can vary depending on the degree and stage of the infection.

The first signs of oral herpes commonly include the formation of undesirable cold sores and fever blisters.

Before appearing, you would feel some itching and burning sensation on the area where the cold sore will appear.

In two to three days, the blisters come out in full bloom, but they crust over, scab and disappear in the next week.

How is The Oral Herpes Virus Infection Spread?

Direct skin-to-skin contact with an infected person can cause you to contract herpes. This includes intimate contacts such as touching, cuddling, kissing, and most especially sexual contact (vaginal, anal, and oral).

The moist areas of the body such as the mouth, eyes, genital, anus and throat are more likely to get infected. If you have oral herpes virus infection, avoid direct contact with people and avoid sharing personal items such as towels and toothbrush with others.

Treating Cold Sores

Contracting oral herpes is quite difficult to prevent, but the cold sores that result from this condition can be managed easily. There are now a variety of oral and topical drugs that have been seen to hasten the healing of cold sores. These drugs include benzocaine, docosanol, anaesthetics, analgesics as well as antivirals such as Acyclovir. They have all been suggested to be effective and you can try most of them as they are available over-the-counter.

However, before these medications came to be, the most widely used cold sore treatment method was through herpes oxygenation. This method of killing the cold sore virus involves the direct application of hydrogen peroxide onto the affected area.

It is believed that once the herpes virus becomes highly oxygenated, it loses its ability to grow and replicate and eventually dies. Oxygenation for fighting the herpes cold sore virus comes in many forms: topical, oral, or intravenous hydrogen peroxide, ozone insufflations, hyperbaric oxygen, or a combination of these.

But Does Hydrogen Peroxide Kill Cold Sore Virus?

There is sufficient evidence to prove this, but it has not been proven scientifically. However, the application of hydrogen peroxide does not seem to have significant side effect (except when you put way too much), so it might still be a good idea to try it out. Besides, if you have a bad oral herpes virus infection, you may want to try out everything that people claim to be effective.