Hi MSM,

The answers to your questions are on this site. To answer your most pressing questions however, the sad fact is once you have herpes it does not go away. Symptoms however do vary greatly from person to person. For example, it is possible that you will never again experience a flare up, but then again you may. Some people experience several flare-ups a year and they need permanent medication to try and control the worst symptoms.

The fact that you feel poorly informed can easily be changed. Check out this article called Genital Herpes: The Basics. Your concerns about spreading of the virus will probably be answered by reading this article on Transmission.

Otherwise, the homepage provides links to some of the most commonly asked questions.

Hope this helps