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Genital herpes is one of today’s most common sexually transmitted diseases. The virus that causes this disease is called herpes simplex virus, which is also the same family of viruses that cause cold sores, shingles and chicken pox.

Genital herpes is caused by the virus called herpes simplex type II. The virus called herpes simplex type I causes cold sores on the nose and lip area. The mucous membranes of either the reproductive tract or lip/mouth area are equally attractive to the herpes virus and will happily reside in either region. It is important to understand that oral genital contact can transmit both virus types. In other words oral sex should be refrained from cold sores are present in the mouth area as it can transmit the virus to the genital area and vice versa. The blisters caused by the herpes viruses are virtually identical and hard to differentiate between.

What are the symptoms of genital herpes? Often is the case an individual will run fever and have body aches, typical of many viruses, upon the initial infection. However, that is not always true. Some people are unaware they are infected until they experience an outbreak of blisters in their genital area.

This outbreak is indicative of the virus acting in the body. The virus lies dormant with the body, with no symptoms present, and it is then followed by an outbreak of blisters in the genital area. It can extend into the anal area too. Genital sores act very similar to cold sores. There is tingling, followed by some growth, then it spreads and bursts leaving a sore that slowly heals.

Men typically experience these blisters on or around the penis, and women experience the sores in the vagina and surrounding area.

The herpes virus will last your entire life, but the outbreaks will be periodic. In fact, the outbreaks will diminish over time with some individuals experiencing no outbreaks at all.

Diagnosis of genital herpes should be done by a healthcare professional. People often are unaware they are affected until the first outbreak, and for others the symptoms are so mild they mistake it for a basic skin irritation. Diagnosis is usually done with an inspection of the infected area. In most cases a swab will taken of a blister to confirm the diagnosis.

While there is no cure for herpes, there is treatment available which will help control virus. Initially an anti-viral medication can be used to help fight the infection, and in some cases are used for a prolonged period of time if there are frequent outbreaks. Other common sense treatments that aid in the discomfort of outbreaks are wearing loose clothing, the use of cold compresses, and the use of soothing creams or ointments on the affected area.

A healthy immune system is key in reducing frequency of outbreaks. You should avoid smoking, drinking alcohol and drug use as it is an immune system drain and can increase the likely-hood of outbreaks. A great defense against outbreaks is just good clean living, including quality food and exercising.

Genital herpes is typically not a life threatening disease, particularly for those with healthy immune systems. However, an over taxed immune system makes outbreaks more likely, which often occur during physical or emotional stress. With the presence of HIV, cancer or other immune system suppressers the virus does become more dangerous.

Should the virus be transmitted to other areas like the eyes or brain the complications can be severe. The direct transmission can happen in a number of ways, but most commonly occurs during the birthing process where unfortunately the baby can become infected from contact with the infected mothers vagina.

If you in any way believe you have contracted genital herpes make arrangements to see your doctor immediately. You should always practice safe sex with the use of a condom, even during oral sex. Your sexual partner should always be made aware of your infection as it is irresponsible to pass along genital herpes.

Do your medical marketing materials fade away as soon as you produce them? Do they lack excitement, a sense of urgency and effectiveness? Here are 3 more techniques from the bare-knuckles world of DRTV (that’s Direct Response TV).

That doesn’t mean you have to make obnoxious commercials for Ginsu Surgery (”But Wait! There’s More! Well also throw in a free rhinoplasty!”). What you need to do is try to forget about the response of the Head of Cardiology, the Head Nurse or any other Administrative Head in your hospital. Before you create a healthcare organization marketing plan, medical marketing kit or any medical marketing materials, you really need to focus on the only people who can make your marketing a success: your patients, and what they really want. Not what YOU want them to want, but what they really really want. Use any means to find it out, from in-room interviews to telephone surveys and mall intercepts, but find out. Knowing what your patients want is the critical first step to medical marketing that gets results.

OK, here’s another crucial technique - sometimes size really does matter. By that I mean that the wonders of medicine and the unique selling proposition of your hospital are too complicated for a 30 second spot. If you have important news that’s too complicated for a short commercial, consider a commercial that runs for a half hour! Nothing gets across the subtle advantages of a new procedure or product better than a long format commercial.

The biggest hurdle of a long format commercial is production. But non-prime DR media costs are so affordable that cost of production soon fades away. And there’s another hidden fact that can make your long format commercial the hero of your healthcare organization marketing plan: longer commercials always get better response - always. Response that supercharges your ROI.

Since there aren’t many folks who respond to medical marketing materials by asking the EMT or ambulance driver to turn around and take them to that hospital they heard about in a commercial, most medical marketing is about relationship building. Nothing jump-starts relationships like giving people something for free. Free stuff (you can call it by its MBA name: a Value Added Offer) gets people’s attention. Doesn’t it get yours?

What should you offer? It can be anything from free screening for heart disease or high blood pressure, to a Free Guide on preventing or treating a common killer like diabetes. A large regional health system I work with offered women free tests for indicators of heart disease. The women who received them were almost twice as likely to come to this hospital for heart treatment. That program was so successful that they’re expanding it to include men.

Another effective philosophy medical marketing can learn from Direct Response marketing: What gets measured gets improved.Maybe I don’t need to say this, but I will anyway: DRTV is set up to measure response. You know within two days whether your DRTV campaign is working. There are a few easy and affordable ways to track response. One of the easiest: put a different phone number in every commercial. Then you’ll know that people are responding to your 2 minute spot on Style at twice the rate as the same commercial on Spike.

Heck, most people who put together healthcare organization marketing plans don’t know if anyone is responding to their medical marketing materials at all! Most medical marketing gets thrown into the marketplace, and if forced to answer truthfully, most marketing directors have little idea whether their medical marketing campaigns are working. Don’t let that be you.