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What Cold Sores Really Are

Cold sores are fluid-filled blisters that hurt a great deal forming around the lips or the nose. This infection is also known with other names such as fever blisters, oral herpes, labia herpes, herpes labialis, and herpes febrilis. What differentiates it from the common canker sore is the fact that it often infect the outer lips while the latter usually forms inside the mouth. Unlike canker sore, cold sores only occur inside the mouth during the initial stage of the infection.

A cold sore is actually caused by a herpes virus. Up until present, there are eight variations of human herpes viruses known to humankind. Two of the known viruses, which are herpes simplex types 1 and 2, are discovered to be the cause of cold sores. The herpes simplex virus type 1 is commonly believed to infect the area above the waist while the herpes simplex virus type 2 infects below the waist. However, what is commonly agreed upon  is not always completely true. The two viruses, herpes virus type 1 and type 2, can both cause what we call ‘herpes lesions’ on the lips or genitals. When it comes to recurrent cold sores, they are almost always caused by type 1.

As of today, oral herpes is very common. Over 60% Americans have had experience with cold sores while approximately 25% of those previously infected experienced recurrent outbreaks. These people usually became infected before the tender age of 10 or 12. The herpes virus can infect anybody and, once infected, the virus remains latent in their bodies for the rest of their lives. The aforementioned viruses are spread from a person to another person always by direct skin-to-skin contacts. The most dangerous time which could cause the spreading of the virus is the initial stage when the appearance of blisters begins as well as at the end where there is scab formation. Additionally, people infected by the virus need not have visible blisters to spread the ‘hidden virus’ to other people, mainly because the virus is believed to be present in the saliva even without obvious oral lesions.

Viruses are very different from bacteria. While bacteria are independent are able to reproduce on their own, viruses enter and invade the human cells, forcing them to make more virus and turning them into ‘virus factories’. The infected human cell will be killed, releasing millions of new viruses upon its burst. The cell death and resulting tissue damage are what causing the actual cold sores. Subsequently, the herpes virus can also make the cell produce new viruses when it infects it and then hides inside the cell and waits. The hiding place of the herpes virus is in the nervous system. The waiting period is called "latency." When latent, a virus can wait inside the nervous system for unknown period of days, months, or even years for some cases. In an indefinite future, the virus will activate itself and causes the cell to produce thousands of new viruses that cause an active infection almost immediately.