Publications
Patient Information Leaflet.
Herpes simplex – a Guide
Publications list
Sample articles from SPHERE
The Herpes Viruses Association sells copies of HERPES SIMPLEX – A
GUIDE, a six thousand word, 16 page booklet, now in a seventh edition.
This booklet includes more detail on ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ and
extra sections - such as a long section on ‘Why herpes simplex
may cause some people anxiety’. This describes how the word ‘herpes’
has been given its aura of horror.
Two doctors have written:
"An excellent patient perspective on genital herpes that will help dispel myth by providng good commonsense advice" Dr George Kinghorn, MD FRCP, Clinical Director, Sheffield and Chair of the Herpes Simplex Virus Advisory Panel (sub-group of British Association for Sexual Health and HIV)
"You have done an excellent job and I think it is very comprehensive," wrote Professor Adrian Mindel, CBE MSc MD FRCP, formerly of the Middlesex Hospital and co-author of "Herpes, What it is and How to Cope" (now out of print)
A reader commented:
"I think it would be really helpful if you [STI clinics] would have your GUIDE and information about the Association in clinics - preferably doctors would give out the GUIDE on diagnosis - this would do a lot to prevent the fear, despair, etc. when first being diagnosed - it took me months before I heard about the HVA."
Cost of HERPES SIMPLEX – A GUIDE:
1 to 10 copies: send £1.00 for each copy.
11 to 99 copies: 35 pence each (including p&p) - e.g. 50 copies price
£17.50
100 copies and over: 30 pence each (including p&p) – e.g. 100
copies for £30.00
You can pay by cheque, postal order, credit or debit cards: HVA, 41 North
Rd, London N7 9DP
Article on medical matters
Dr George Kinghorn: "An Update on Herpes Simplex"
Article on personal matters
'MY STORY' is a personal experience of someone with genital herpes. There's one in every SPHERE - and we'll put different ones on the website from time to time. This one is typical:
When I met A in 2000, three years after my husband had bailed out of our 17 year marriage, I thought I’d found happiness again. Sadly, it wasn’t to be and he ended the relationship, quite suddenly, after a year – but only after passing the herpes simplex virus to me. He seemed neither sorry nor willing to talk about it. I was deeply upset but I’d been left alone before and I pulled myself back up by my bootstraps.
OK, I told myself, I’ve got herpes and that’s bad enough – but there are worse things I could have been given. So I got on with my life. I had a job I enjoyed, a little cottage in a village I loved, a car, lots of good friends, my dog and cat – I could cope alone. I certainly didn’t want to risk another relationship and there’s no way I would risk passing the virus to someone else. The ‘Let’s Get in Touch’ classifieds in SPHERE didn’t really appeal (although I’m aware that many people have found happiness through it) – I didn’t want someone to be interested in me simply because we shared the same virus!
I’d already enjoyed several conservation working holidays and I booked one for October 2002. It was there in darkest Wales, knee deep in mud, in my oldest clothes, with no make-up, my hair scraped back and broken fingernails from the tasks, that I met D. (I won’t use his full name as he’d be embarrassed). He was on the same holiday and, it turned out, lived just 90 minutes’ drive from my North Yorkshire home.
We got on incredibly well all week and there was certainly ‘chemistry’ there. On the last day, he asked me out to lunch before we headed home. Then, as we walked back to our cars, he asked to see me again. We spent the next few weekends getting to know each other and I fell further and further in love. Eventually, it was obvious that things would get physical, so I knew I had to broach the most difficult subject – and risk seeing him disappear into the sunset.
I sent for your leaflet on ‘Talking to a new partner’, chose my time, sat him down and explained the situation. I stayed calm (outwardly, anyway), tried not to make it such a big issue and gave him your information leaflet designed to explain the virus to new partners. To my great relief and surprise, he came out with the classic “Is that all?” Apparently he’d thought I was
going to tell him I had AIDS or something equally life-threatening. He said the herpes simplex changed nothing and he still wanted our relationship to develop and deepen, which it has.
Over the last 14 months, we have grown closer and closer, our intimate life is as normal as anyone’s (and a probably a damned sight better than many!) I’ve had only two outbreaks in all that time (must be because I’m happy and less stressed); in fact my period has played more havoc with our sex life than the herpes simplex has. We spend every weekend together and have long-term plans for when jobs and other bits of life allow. I now genuinely regard my herpes simplex as a minor irritation and forget about it 99% of the time.
The events of the last ten months are probably what conspired to allow me to forget to renew my SPHERE membership! However, I’ve now put this right and look forward to being kept up to date with all the developments and news of the Herpes Viruses Association.
