Basic facts about fever blisters

Fever blisters and crank sores

A lot of people make the mistake and mix fever blisters or cold sores with canker sores. However, that is wrong and people should not mix them because they are not the same condition. People should know that crank sores occur only inside the mouth. The experts are still not 100% sure of what the exact cause of crank sores is. However, it is strongly believed that the actual cause is some virus or the bacteria that are located in the mouth. In almost all cases of crank sores, they are known to occur right after a person suffered some sort of an injury to the inside of the mouth or even the tongue. There are various injuries that people may suffer to the inside of the mouth. A person can injure the inside of his or her mouth through some sort of a sport injury, by eating hot food that burns or eating spicy foods. Chewing tobacco is even known to cause injuries inside the mouth in some cases as well. These are all the situations in which a person will end up suffering from canker sores and not cold sores or fever blisters.

Fever blisters and herpes

On the other hand, people should know that cold sores and fever blisters are different names for the same condition. An important difference between canker sores and fever blisters is that the actual cause of fever blisters is known. The cause is a certain virus called herpes simplex virus 1 or HSV-1. A person who is infected with the virus may or may not suffer from skin eruptions that are known as fever blisters or cold sores. However, the cases when a person has the virus but never experiences blisters are quite rare. People should also know that there is no known cure for this virus and a person will have it for the rest of his or her life. The virus called herpes simplex virus 1 is also a known cause of a certain disease called herpes simplex or better known as herpes. The difference between herpes and fever blisters is that herpes occurs in the lower part of the body while cold sores occur on the face, especially on the lips and mouth. In rare cases the blisters are seen in throat or the nose. Cold sores are also known to be called oral herpes. Even though the virus cannot be treated, people should know that fever blisters can and there are a lot of remedies available.