I have an STD! [it's news to me]

[Calbrini]

I forgot to say that she said you could ONLY get it from sex!

[Piyokochan]

I don't actually GET the cold, I get a cold sore instead. I think that while your body is distracted fighting the cold virus, the Herpes I (cold sore) virus goes, "Aha! A gap!" and has a little party on your lip. 

XD I'm sorry, but that was just funny for some reason. "Aha! A gap!"

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

XD I'm sorry, but that was just funny for some reason. "Aha! A gap!"

Here we have a saying, "Go for the gap, my china!" which I think is rugby slang. "China" is slang for friend. So that's what I was thinking of. 

[retreadbride]

Not funny, but true.

As everyone says, there are a number of herpes viruses.

Actually more people have the herpes STD than they think....only about 5% of the people who have the STD ever have an outbreak.

I hate the oral herpes. Something about my braces kept the virus active and I always had a mouthful of sores when I was undergoing orthodontics.

Valtrex, the STD drug, also works on the cold sore version.

[blahblahblah]

Not funny, but true.

As everyone says, there are a number of herpes viruses.

Actually more people have the herpes STD than they think....only about 5% of the people who have the STD ever have an outbreak.

I hate the oral herpes. Something about my braces kept the virus active and I always had a mouthful of sores when I was undergoing orthodontics.

Valtrex, the STD drug, also works on the cold sore version.

Not true, because the type of herpes that many people have is not an STD. Herpes does not automatically = STD.

[HorseFreak]

Not funny, but true.

As everyone says, there are a number of herpes viruses.

Actually more people have the herpes STD than they think....only about 5% of the people who have the STD ever have an outbreak.

I hate the oral herpes. Something about my braces kept the virus active and I always had a mouthful of sores when I was undergoing orthodontics.

Valtrex, the STD drug, also works on the cold sore version.

Not true, because the type of herpes that many people have is not an STD. Herpes does not automatically = STD.

I think we're starting to split hairs over the definition of an STD. It really doesn't matter whether it is actually or not. ORAL AND GENITAL HERPES CAN BE CAUSED BY THE SAME VIRUS (Not directed at anyone in particular). Chicken pox is a type of herpes virus, but not the same one. It's just in the same group. It's more common to have HSV-1 on the mouth, and HSV-2 on the genitals, but some of you could have the genital version on your lips whether you like it or not. It just causes more severe outbreaks. It doesn't make you dirty or slutty or anything.

[blahblahblah]

I think we're starting to split hairs over the definition of an STD. It really doesn't matter whether it is actually or not. ORAL AND GENITAL HERPES CAN BE CAUSED BY THE SAME VIRUS (Not directed at anyone in particular). Chicken pox is a type of herpes virus, but not the same one. It's just in the same group. It's more common to have HSV-1 on the mouth, and HSV-2 on the genitals, but some of you could have the genital version on your lips whether you like it or not. It just causes more severe outbreaks. It doesn't make you dirty or slutty or anything.

I don't think I'm splitting hairs over the definition. STD = sexually transmitted disease. I did not get my cold sores or the virus through sexual means (otherwise I would have been a pretty screwed up 7-year-old). It's a pretty significant difference, it's not just "splitting hairs." Like it or not, STD has very negative connotations in society today and I do not want those connotations inaccurately applied to me.

[Shoo]

I think we're starting to split hairs over the definition of an STD. It really doesn't matter whether it is actually or not. ORAL AND GENITAL HERPES CAN BE CAUSED BY THE SAME VIRUS (Not directed at anyone in particular). Chicken pox is a type of herpes virus, but not the same one. It's just in the same group. It's more common to have HSV-1 on the mouth, and HSV-2 on the genitals, but some of you could have the genital version on your lips whether you like it or not. It just causes more severe outbreaks. It doesn't make you dirty or slutty or anything.

I don't think I'm splitting hairs over the definition. STD = sexually transmitted disease. I did not get my cold sores or the virus through sexual means (otherwise I would have been a pretty screwed up 7-year-old). It's a pretty significant difference, it's not just "splitting hairs." Like it or not, STD has very negative connotations in society today and I do not want those connotations inaccurately applied to me.

Exactly.  It's not fair, or accurate, to call the condition that causes cold sores a sexually transmitted disease.  Lots of children, and lots of adults who aren't sexually active, have this condition.  Technically, it may be herpes, but it's not the STD kind of herpes.  There is more than one kind.

[jimithing]

Just one more clarification, since we're already splitting hairs, the new term in STI, not STD.  The medical community has made the clarification that these are infections, not diseases.  New tip of the day! 

[Brentwood]

Just curious, is there a test for herpes and is it reliable?  Or is it one of those things where "oh, that looks like herpes so that's what you have" type thing?

I'm cracking up laughing because there was just a herpes commercial on TV.  Getting strange looks from roommates.
"I have genital herpes."
"And I don't."
"We want to keep it that way."
Then later it says it doesn't prevent spreading of the disease - which is why I find it funny.


I'm still surprised she thought I had herpes.  I wonder what she said to the person who has acne right on the lipline?


Venus193 - No one is making fun of anyone who has an STD.

What I find funny about that commercial is they open it with those quotes, then discuss the benefits of the medication being pitched. At the end of the commercial, they say this, "So, I still have genital herpes." "And I still don't."

Really? You still don't? So nothing changed in the 30 seconds we've been watching the commercial? 

[Kendo_Bunny]

With the commercials, I just always wonder how the actors/actresses ever get dates after that.

"Hello, my name is Michael... you may have seen me on television. Why, YES! I am the 'Infected Partner' in the Valtrex commercials, so are you don't anything later? Hey, where are you going?"


The girl was probably one of those people who trumpets new-found facts far and wide to show how informed she is. I knew some girls who did this in high school... so it was really annoying when she got into psychology. Every day, a new diagnosis.

[Dindrane]

Those commercials always make me think of the episode of Friends in which Joey ends up in an advertising campaign (or whatever you'd call it) against VD.  His picture ends up all over New York, and he can't get anybody to go out with him because of it.

I think that the really rude assumption made in the OP, aside from the erroneous assumption that the mark in question was a cold sore, is that the cold sore was a result of sexual contact.  It doesn't matter which type of virus caused it - one should not assume that another person's cold sores are a result of, well, anything.  Either type of virus could be passed to the person in question in innocent ways, whether it's HS-1 or HS-2.

As far as I'm concerned, if I had a cold sore (or something that looked like one), the only comment I would find acceptable would be a recommendation for a good medicine to treat it.  It's certainly nobody's business how I got the thing in the first place.

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

So while yes, there are myriad ways to contract any of the many forms of herpesvirus, there are also seemingly healthy people who may be unwittingly passing on STIs.

Well, I'm sure people unwittingly pass on the cold sore version (Herpes I) as well. I mean, no one gives a small child something like that on purpose.

[blahblahblah]

I understand your point of view, but I believe the original assertion was that many people infected with an STI are a-symptomatic. This is true for sexually transmitted herpes as well as many other STIs. So while yes, there are myriad ways to contract any of the many forms of herpesvirus, there are also seemingly healthy people who may be unwittingly passing on STIs.

I know that there are people who are blissfully unaware that they have an STD (oops…I mean an STI…ack, I am so much more used to the other acronym); however, the OP made mention of her lip looking like a cold sore, which is -- more often than not -- a non-sexually transmitted form of herpes. The poster I was replying to then mentioned STDs in connection to or as a spin off to her comment about cold sores, so I inferred that she was implying that all cold sores were STDs. It was not an unreasonable inference, in my opinion, but if I misunderstood her comment then my apologies.

I know that there are people who do seem to think that cold sores = herpes = STDs, and I guess this is something I am extremely sensitive to, lol! I usually couldn't care less about my appearance but I am very self-conscious when it comes to cold sores. I'm just glad that most of the people in my life didn't know enough (i.e. they didn't know that cold sores were a form of herpes) to make fun of me. Of course, I'm paranoid that they were just too nice to make fun of me to my face -- I was a bit intimidating -- but that they gossiped about me behind my back: "Oh my gosh, she has an STD, ha ha, wonder how she got it…"

[auntmeegs]

Even if Drile had  had the most raging case of herpes in all of medical history, the fact that Rude Girl looked at her and said "EWWW, you  have Herpes" is unspeakably rude.