Herpes is a viral infection that is contagious and caused by the HSV (herpes simplex virus). Once this virus has infected you, your skin will experience sores and blisters more so around the mouth, buttocks, genitals, and nose. You may not have any herpes symptoms that you can see or feel, or the signs of herpes may be so mild you don’t even notice them. Herpes symptoms might come and go, and many people confuse herpes symptoms with other things, like pimples, ingrown hairs, and the flu. You can tell whether you have herpes or not by checking whether the symptoms you have match those of the different types of herpes.

Orofacial herpes of the face and mouth: Oral herpes causes sores on your lips or around your mouth called cold sores or fever blisters. You can also get sores inside your mouth too.

Genital herpes of the genitalia: A symptom of genital herpes is a group of itchy or painful blisters on your vagina, vulva, cervix, penis, butt, anus, or the inside of your thighs. The blisters break and turn into sores. Here are a few symptoms.

• Burning when you urinate if your urine touches the herpes sores
• Having trouble peeing because the sores and swelling are blocking your urethra
• itching
• Pain around your genitals
• You may also experience symptoms that are similar to the flu, like fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, tiredness and lack of appetite.

Herpes keratitis of the eyes: This can cause symptoms such as eye pain, discharge, and a gritty feeling in the eye.

Herpetic whitlow of the hands: Symptoms of herpetic whitlow include swelling, reddening, and tenderness of the skin of the infected finger. This may be accompanied by fever and swollen lymph nodes.

Herpes encephalitis of the brain and central nervous system: People show a decrease in their level of consciousness and an altered mental state presenting as confusion and changes in personality.

Apart from these signs, a blood test will tell whether herpes has infected you for sure.