Hello there, miss. Thank you for being forthcoming with the question. From your description, it seems to me that you have been having several herpes outbreak in nine months and you did not seek treatment. I will explain about herpes infection first. It is caused by a virus called herpes simplex and is transmitted sexually.

There are two types; oral herpes and genital herpes. You are having genital herpes. The symptoms usually are the presence of sore around the genital area, burning sensation, painful urination, fever and muscle aches as well as swollen lymph nodes around the genital area. There is no cure for herpes infection.

Once a person is infected, it stays in the body. The virus are latent in the nerve cells until there is a trigger that makes it active again. When this happens, it is called an outbreak. I recommend that you consult a doctor to get tested. If tested positive, your doctor will prescribe you with anti-viral medications such as acyclovir.

This medicine helps in relieving the symptom, reduce the duration of infection and its severity. The first outbreak is known to be the most painful one and takes the longest time to heal. As more outbreaks happen, the severity of the pain and the duration decreases. Triggers may include stress, illness, diet and even menstruation. If you are having outbreaks more often, your doctor may give you suppressive treatment in which anti-viral medication are given daily.

This treatment may reduce the number of outbreaks by 70 to 80%. I do not think that the transmission of infection happened during swimming. You are recommended to not have sex with someone who has a sore and always have protected sex. Taking anti-viral medication daily is also known to decrease the chances of spreading the infection.

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