If you get the occasional cold sore, you've probably heard the word "herpes" used to describe the lesions on your mouth.Saying someone "has herpes" means that they are infected with a virus called herpes simplex virus, or HSV. HSV is a HIGHLY contagious virus that comes in two variants: HSV-1 and HSV-2. In most cases, HSV-2 is the virus responsible for genital herpes, the below-the-belt version of cold sores. Cold sores involving the mouth or lips are usually the result of being infected with HSV-1. But it's not always simple: If you have a cold sore and it comes in contact with someone else's genitals, it is possible for that person to contract a form of HSV-1 that will cause sores in the genital area, NOT oral. The same is true in reverse. If a person's mouth makes contact with active herpes on the genitals, he or she can catch a form of HSV-2 that will cause sores around the mouth. In other words, the viruses are similar enough that either type can infect the genitals OR the oral region. It's impossible to get cold sores WITHOUT being infected by one of the herpes viruses, so if you experience them, you do, by definition, have herpes. And both HSV-1 and HSV-2 can't be cured and they won't ever exit the body. That's the bad news. The good news is that herpes is not necessarily a sexually transmitted disease. Believe it or not, most cases of HSV-1 are actually acquired during childhood, often via a kiss from an infected adult. No matter how you contracted it, if you have oral herpes, you're not alone. Depending on which source you reference, anywhere from 50 to 80-percent of the population is infected with HSV-1. Even though many of these people are asymptomatic and unaware of their infections, they do have herpes! If you're concerned about the contagiousness of cold sores, of if you just want to know how to make them heal faster, check out other videos in this series.