How does HSV induce sores and blisters?
Once the HSV-1 or HSV-2 virus enters a human cell, it invades the nucleus and initiates the replication process. At the stage of replication, a person will experience no symptoms despite the fact that the body’s cells are infected. During the onset of an infection, the virus travels through nerve cells to ganglia, which are nerve branching points. Here at the ganglia, the virus will remain in a dormant and inactive state, no longer causing symptoms or replicating. Occasionally, the dormant virus reactivates and initiates a new replication cycle. Upon initiation of the new replication process, the virus returns to the skin’s surface via the nerve. The movement of virus back to the nerve causes the demise of numerous infected skin cells, resulting in the formation of sores. The eruption of these lesions results in the characteristic ulcers known as herpes genitalis or cold sores.
