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Oral Herpes (cont.)

Oral Herpes Symptoms

  • Incubation period: For oral herpes, the amount of time between contact with the virus and the appearance of symptoms, the incubation period, is 2-12 days. Most people average about 4 days.

  • Duration of illness: Signs and symptoms will last 2-3 weeks. Fever, tiredness, muscle aches, and irritability may occur.

    • Pain, burning, tingling, or itching occurs at the infection site before the sores appear. Then clusters of blisters erupt. These blisters break down rapidly and, when seen, appear as tiny, shallow, gray ulcers on a red base. A few days later, they become crusted or scabbed and appear drier and more yellow

    • Oral sores: The most intense pain caused by these sores occurs at the onset and make eating and drinking difficult.

      • The sores may occur on the lips, the gums, the front of the tongue, the inside of the cheeks, the throat, and the roof of the mouth.

      • They may also extend down the chin and neck.

      • The gums may become mildly swollen and red and may bleed.

      • Neck lymph nodes often swell and become painful.

      • In people in their teens and 20s, herpes may cause a painful throat with shallow ulcers and a grayish coating on the tonsils.



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