Causes of Genital Herpes Based on TCM:
Traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, views herpes outbreaks as a product of imbalance in your qi, or vital life energy. Qi flows through subtle energy channels in your body that correspond to your internal organs. With herpes, the liver channel becomes blocked with stagnant qi, producing what TCM practitioners call "phlegm"---a TCM term for the thickened, sluggish body fluids that result from stagnant qi. A herpes outbreak occurs when phlegm accumulates and breaks through the surface of the skin,

Causes of Genital Herpes in Western Medicine:
Genital herpes is usually passed on by skin-to-skin contact with someone who is already infected with the virus. The moist skin that lines the mouth, genitals and anus is the most susceptible to infection. This means that the virus is most commonly passed on by having vaginal, anal or oral sex, or just close genital contact with an infected person. For example, if you have a cold sore around your mouth, by having oral sex, you may pass on the virus that causes genital herpes.

Herpes simplex virus can also enter through a cut or break in the ordinary skin on other parts of the body. In this way the virus can sometimes affect fingers, hands, knees, etc, if they are in contact with another person's infected area. It is called a whitlow when it is on the fingers.

You are not likely to re-infect yourself with your own virus through accidental touching, or to catch back your own virus from an infected partner, on a different part of your own body.