Herpes Viruses Association

We are a patient support organisation, run by patients, only two of whom are paid.  We offer a helpline (calls charged at local rate), website, leaflets and quarterly journals about herpes simplex (genital herpes and cold sores) talks and workshops inLondon.  The helpline gets about 5,000 calls a year.  It is answered by trained volunteers who can answer medical questions on the condition as well as counsel people with the psychological worries that sometimes affect people.  Our website gets around one million visitors a year.

Most people with herpes simplex are unaware that they have it.  A few people get frequent or severe symptoms.  We advise on treatment: self-help and prescribed medication.  We have run trials to find which complementary therapies do have a benefit and which are ‘snake-oil’.. 

Subscribers receive quarterly journals and leaflets dealing with all aspects of the virus from ‘too many recurrences’ to ‘talking about this with a new partner’.  Events are organised by members outsideLondon.

We help the medical establishment by providing training talks to staff, as well as cards, leaflets and booklets for their patients.  Since people calling our helpline can talk for as long as they wish, this lessens the burden on Sexual Health Clinics’ advisers.