Medical science says it is a tiny particle, a virus, that is but one member of a large herpes “family.” Chicken pox and shingles are common afflictions caused by herpes viruses. The one causing genital herpes is similar (at times identical) to the virus causing the ordinary cold sores people get on their lips. But when herpes afflicts the genitals, the sufferer has usually (but not alwaysa) contracted the virus in a specific way: by sexual contact with another herpes victim.