What do you want to know about genital herpes?

Many, if not most, patients newly diagnosed with genital herpes need immediate education and counseling on the infection. They also need to referrals and resources for additional information and support. This can be time-consuming for healthcare provider, though, and patients can be left with too many unanswered questions.

To address the needs of both healthcare providers and patients, ASHA recently developed a one-page frequently-asked-questions sheet with information on some of the most common questions newly-diagnosed patients have and tested it with more than 15- patients and providers. Testing showed that the FAQ was useful in simplifying topics, providing prompts for providers and resources for patients.

You can download your own copy of the FAQ to read for yourself and share with your healthcare provider as well. To learn more about the study and the development of the FAQ, you can read our recently published article "Genital Herpes Education and Counselling: Testing a One-page ‘FAQ’ Intervention" in the publication Herpes, the Journal of the International Herpes Management Forum.

Just for providers:
The Herpes Testing Toolkit online
Making an accurate diagnosis is one of the greatest challenges in controlling genital herpes. The Herpes Testing Toolkit online is designed as a useful resource for healthcare providers in assessing the latest tools for diagnostic testing.

Providers will find guidance on who to test, which test to choose, and how to interpret test results. Also included are pre- and post-test counseling messages for patients.

In addition to the resources available online, The Herpes Testing Toolkit is also available from the ASHA online store for only $2.95.