Genital herpes is more common than most people, including nurses, are aware. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prefvention (CDC), at least 45 million people ages 12 and older, or one out of five adolescents and adults, have had a genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. Women acquire the herpes simplex virus more frequently then men (one in four women) and tend to have more frequent outbreaks with more severe symptoms then men. Transmission of the virus occurs when the infected individual, who may be asymptomatic, sheds the virus during sexual activity. Diagnosis of the virus may be difficult for both clinicians and patients as the classic painful genital vesicular lesions of HSV are only present in 10 to 20 percent of cases. According to the CDC, herpes infections should be diagnosed with type-specific virologic or serologic tests. All patients with suspected HSV infections should be treated with antivirals until proven otherwise by test results. The CDC provides specific treatment guidelines for both new onset genital herpes infections and episodic therapy for recurrent episodes of HSV. Receiving a diagnosis is often distressing and life-altering for the person as this virus is recurrent, contagious and incurable. The diagnosis and counseling a woman receives has clinical and social consequences for all sexually active individuals. Called by many as a highly stigmatizing sexually transmitted infection, nurses and nurse practitioners have the ability to provide caring, thoughtful, sensitive and accurate counseling information to women with HSV which will be critical in management and control of the infection. this case study will review the diagnosis, treatment, and counseling techniques for a young woman diagnosed with a primary genital herpes simplex virus infection.