Camilla Guldborg had gone a year without kissing anyone.
When she finally did, the young Danish woman had no idea what was coming. Shortly afterward, the skin around her mouth broke out in severe sores caused by HSV-1, the virus responsible for oral herpes. She shared it herself on TikTok with a phrase that sums up the irony: “When the first guy you kiss in a year gives you herpes”. The video has already passed 9 million views. She said the man she kissed didn’t know he was infected.
Along with the outbreak, she had to deal with other problems: the medication to fight the virus caused hives, and she also reported a sore throat. “It seems love isn’t for me”, she commented on her social media.
Her case highlights something many people don’t know: contact with the virus usually happens in childhood, without causing symptoms. According to the Brazilian Society of Dermatology, the virus lies dormant in the body, traveling along a nerve until it is reactivated by intense sunlight, fatigue, stress, fever, or other infections. Antiviral treatment works best if it starts as soon as the first symptoms appear.