Can You Claim Herpes as a VA Disability? Ratings, Evidence, and TDIU

Herpes can be claimed as a VA disability, and the herpes VA disability rating runs from 0% to 60% under Diagnostic Code 7820, which covers skin infections not listed elsewhere in the rating schedule.¹ The rating you receive depends on two things measured over the past 12 months: how much of your body or exposed areas the lesions cover, and whether your treatment is topical or systemic. The harder part is usually not the rating itself but proving the condition is connected to your service.

The Rating Percentages

The VA does not distinguish between oral and genital herpes for rating purposes. Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 are evaluated under the same criteria, which look at functional severity rather than the type of virus.² Exposed areas mean the face, neck, and hands.

0% (noncompensable): Lesions cover less than 5% of the body or exposed areas, and only topical therapy was required over the past 12 months.
10%: Lesions cover at least 5% but less than 20%, or intermittent systemic therapy was required for a total of less than six weeks in the past year.
30%: Lesions cover 20% to 40%, or systemic therapy was required for six weeks or more but not constantly.
60%: Lesions cover more than 40%, or constant or near-constant systemic therapy was required over the past 12 months.¹

Sixty percent is the maximum available under DC 7820.

Why Your Medication Often Decides the Rating

Because outbreaks come and go, the skin actually visible on exam day may be minimal even when the condition is severe. In practice, the type of treatment you use tends to matter more than the lesion count. The VA defines systemic therapy as treatment administered through any route other than the skin.³

Oral antivirals commonly prescribed for herpes, including Valacyclovir (Valtrex) and Acyclovir, qualify as systemic therapy.⁴ A veteran on a daily suppressive regimen of oral antivirals can meet the 60% criteria on that basis alone, even without visible lesions at the time of examination.⁵ A veteran using only a topical antiviral cream for the same condition would likely receive a much lower rating.

The Federal Circuit clarified this distinction in Johnson v. Shulkin (2017), holding that a topical treatment does not automatically count as systemic therapy just because it contains corticosteroids. What matters is whether the treatment affects the body as a whole or stays localized.⁶

What Each Rating Pays

As of December 1, 2025, monthly compensation for a single veteran with no dependents is $180.42 at 10%, $552.47 at 30%, and $1,435.02 at 60%.⁷ Veterans rated 30% or higher receive additional amounts for a spouse, children, or dependent parents.

A 0% rating pays nothing but is still worth pursuing. It formally establishes service connection, which opens access to VA healthcare, prescription drug coverage for the condition, travel pay reimbursement, commissary and exchange privileges, and a 10-point federal hiring preference.⁸ It also preserves your right to file for an increased rating later if the condition worsens, and it allows you to claim secondary service connection for any new condition caused or aggravated by the herpes.⁹

Proving Service Connection

Before any rating is assigned, you have to establish service connection. That requires a current diagnosis, evidence of an in-service event or onset, and a medical nexus linking the two.¹⁰ Herpes is not on the VA’s list of presumptive conditions under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309, so it cannot be service-connected simply by appearing within a set period after discharge.¹¹

Direct Connection

The most straightforward route is showing that herpes was contracted or first appeared during active duty. Service treatment records documenting symptoms, even without a formal diagnosis at the time, can serve as evidence of in-service onset. In a 2025 Board decision, service connection was granted based partly on treatment records showing urethritis during service.¹⁰

The virus can lie dormant for years, and the VA cannot reject a claim solely because symptoms did not appear until after discharge. The Board has stated that “chronicity of care” is not required to establish service connection, and a medical opinion that denies the claim based only on the absence of continuous treatment records may be found inadequate.¹⁰ In another 2025 case, the Board granted service connection for HSV-2 based on a private treatment record showing a positive test result collected during the veteran’s active service period, even though official service records were silent on the condition.¹²

Secondary Connection

You can also claim herpes as secondary to another service-connected condition under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310. The most common pathway involves PTSD, particularly PTSD linked to military sexual trauma. In one Board decision, service connection for herpes zoster was granted as secondary to PTSD after medical opinions established that PTSD produces a continuous state of physical stress that can trigger or worsen outbreaks.¹³

Secondary connection requires that the primary condition already be service-connected. In a 2023 decision, secondary service connection for herpes was denied because the underlying PTSD claim had itself been denied.¹⁴

The Presumption of Soundness

If the VA claims herpes existed before service, the burden shifts to the VA. Under 38 U.S.C. § 1111, you are presumed to have been in sound condition when you entered service unless the entrance exam noted otherwise. If herpes was not documented at entry, the VA must produce clear and unmistakable evidence both that the condition pre-existed service and that it was not aggravated by service.¹⁵ That is a high bar.

The C&P Exam and Documenting Flare-Ups

The compensation and pension exam is where the clinical evidence for your rating gets recorded. Examiners use the Disability Benefits Questionnaire for Skin Diseases, which requires them to document the percentage of total body area affected and the percentage of exposed areas affected, using the defined ranges (less than 5%, 5% to less than 20%, 20% to 40%, and more than 40%).¹⁶ They must also record every medication used, its route of administration, and the total duration of use over the past 12 months.

The episodic nature of herpes creates an obvious problem: you may have frequent, painful outbreaks and no visible lesions the day you show up. Under Sharp v. Shulkin (2017), if a flare-up is not present during the exam, the examiner must still ask about frequency, duration, severity, and functional impact, and estimate the level of impairment based on your reports and other evidence. The examiner cannot refuse to give an opinion just because the flare was not directly observed.¹⁷

You can strengthen your claim by photographing outbreaks when they happen, keeping a written log of frequency and severity, and seeking medical treatment during active flare-ups so the episodes become part of the record.

Evidence That Helps

Your own statements matter. The Board has ruled that veterans are competent to report the onset and continuity of observable symptoms like herpes lesions.¹⁰ A personal statement describing when symptoms first appeared, how often outbreaks occur, and how the condition affects daily life can carry real weight, especially when it lines up with medical records.

Buddy statements from fellow service members, family, or friends who have seen the condition’s impact serve a similar purpose. They should be specific about frequency of outbreaks, visible symptoms, and limitations rather than general character endorsements. The VA provides VA Form 21-10210 (Lay/Witness Statement) for this. Statements should be signed, dated, and include a certification that the information is true.¹⁸

A medical nexus opinion, a letter from a healthcare provider stating that your herpes is at least as likely as not connected to military service, is often the single most important piece of evidence, particularly when service records are incomplete or when the virus lay dormant for years.

Related Conditions and TDIU

Some veterans develop post-herpetic neuralgia, a nerve pain condition that persists after outbreaks. The anti-pyramiding rule at 38 C.F.R. § 4.14 prevents compensation for the same symptoms under multiple codes, but if the nerve pain produces separate impairment from the skin condition, a separate rating may be possible under peripheral nerve codes such as DC 8520. In practice, the Board has generally found that where the neuralgia is wholly sensory, without muscle atrophy or reflex loss, it rates as mild or moderate rather than warranting a high separate evaluation.¹⁹

If herpes, alone or combined with other service-connected disabilities, prevents you from holding substantially gainful employment, you may qualify for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). TDIU pays at the 100% rate without requiring a schedular 100% rating. General eligibility requires either a single disability rated at 60% or more, or a combined rating of 70% with at least one condition at 40%.²⁰ A 60% herpes rating could be enough on its own if you can show the condition makes employment impractical.

If You Are Denied

Denials tend to cluster around a few reasons. On service connection, the examiner concludes the virus was acquired before service, that in-service records do not document herpes, or that no medical link exists between current symptoms and service.¹⁵ On the rating itself, denials often rest on the examiner recording minimal skin involvement and topical-only treatment, resulting in a 0%.

You have three ways to challenge a decision:

Supplemental Claim: submit new and relevant evidence for the regional office to reconsider.
Higher-Level Review: a senior reviewer examines the existing record for errors, with no new evidence. Filed on VA Form 20-0996.
Board of Veterans’ Appeals: a Veterans Law Judge reviews the case, with options for a direct review, submission of new evidence, or a hearing. Filed on VA Form 10182.¹⁵

The Board has overturned denials where VA examiners issued inadequate opinions, for instance by basing a negative nexus solely on the absence of an in-service diagnosis without accounting for the dormant nature of the virus, or by failing to address relevant service treatment records.¹⁰ When the evidence is roughly balanced, the VA is required by law to resolve the doubt in your favor.¹²

1
eCFR. 38 CFR 4.118 – Schedule of Ratings, Skin
2
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1527768
3
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A25008339
4
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 21077294
5
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A24045138
6
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Johnson v. Shulkin, No. 2016-2144
7
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Disability Compensation Rates
8
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Derivative Benefits Based on Disability Compensation
9
Disabled American Veterans. How a 0% Disability Rating Unlocks Additional VA Benefits
10
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A25008338
11
eCFR. 38 CFR 3.309 – Disease Subject to Presumptive Service Connection
12
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A25024043
13
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1801946
14
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 23011377
15
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A22024225
16
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Disability Benefits Questionnaire – Skin Diseases
17
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 19126536
18
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Non-Compensable Disability
19
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1548312
20
Woods Lawyers. STD Veterans Disability