How Do You Get Cold Sores?

Cold sores are generally contracted from skin to skin contact with an infected area.
For example, if someone has a cold sore on their lip they can pass on the virus to another person's mouth through kissing.

The usual incubation period of the virus (time before any symptoms show) is approximately two to twelve days after the first exposure to the virus.

As most people contract cold sores before the age of seven, it is common for a person not to remember their first or 'primary' cold sore outbreak.

Once infected with cold sores, the virus remains inside the body in a latent (sleeping) state. Throughout a person's life the virus can then become "activated" causing a cold sore recurrence.