Herpes circa 1893

[peppie]

If you were in the army in 1893 and had herpes and was in the hospital for 10 days.... do you think it would be more likely to be genital or cold sores about the mouth?

[Olde Crone]

I doubt if genital herpes was either known or diagnosable in 1896!

Herpes covers a vast number of illnesses and one of these is Chicken Pox, which can make you quite poorly as an adult. another form of Herpes is shingles, again a nasty illness for an adult.

OC

[peppie]

It's on his army record........
It says unknown (how gotten), local and no affect to the lungs.....

[Kit]

Originally Posted by peppie

If you were in the army in 1893 and had herpes and was in the hospital for 10 days.... do you think it would be more likely to be genital or cold sores about the mouth?

I have several (distant) relatives in WW1 who were hospitalised for an STD, syphillis from memory, don't think there was a case of herpes though.

Most of mine were young and single. I was upset at the married man though as I though he risked transmitting it to his young wife.

[Olde Crone]

Herpes was not a known STD back then!!!

The word Herpes means blister. Herpes simplex is chicken pox, Herpes zoster is shingles.

The man was in hospital with blisters of unknown origin. Presumably the medics would have recognised either chicken pox or shingles, so the man just had blisters, possibly an allergic reaction to something.

Anyway, whatever it was, it was not genital herpes.
No one is hospitalised for genital herpes even today as there is no treatment and no cure...and men rarely have any signs or symptoms.

OC

[peppie]

Oc It's not one of my direct ancestors but I wont resist a chance to wind the other half up

already have the Royal Artillery archives gagging for me to bring his history down to them . ( I have already over 40 pages of records when he signed up with the RA) trying to tie up loose ends before I book the appointment

He's keft some great trails of his not so honest career