According to a new study, constipation could be one of the first signs to tip you off that you have herpes.
The Yale-led study found a surprising link between having trouble in the poop department and the virus that causes genital herpes.
The study showed that the virus is able to spread from the genitals to nerves in the spinal cord. From there, it travels to neurons in the colon killing them off, and leading to damage.
Those problems can stop food from moving along the digestive tract properly, which can in turn lead to an enlarged colon and disease.
Lead author Akiko Iwasaki, said that the other members of the herpes virus family, including Epstein-Barr virus, chicken pox virus, and cytomegalovirus, have been found in the neurons of the colon of people with unexplained chronic constipation. "When doctors can't figure out the cause of these chronic intestinal conditions, one thing to look at is a viral infection."
The study tested the effects of the virus that causes herpes in mice. Though the effects in mice are different from those in people, the study is a way understanding how the disease processes through the body.
The study appears in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.