Yes, you can get a VA disability rating for herpes. The Department of Veterans Affairs compensates veterans for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 when the infection began during service or was made worse by it, with monthly ratings running from 0 to 60 percent. Where you land on that scale depends on how much of your skin is affected during outbreaks and, more often, whether you need oral or injectable medication rather than just topical cream.
The Four Rating Levels
Herpes has no dedicated diagnostic code. The VA rates it under the General Rating Formula for the Skin, using Diagnostic Code 7820 in 38 C.F.R. § 4.118, which covers viral and other skin infections not listed elsewhere.1eCFR. 38 CFR § 4.118 – Schedule of Ratings, Skin Older Board decisions sometimes rate it by analogy under 7806 (dermatitis and eczema), often written as 7899-7806, but both codes use the same rating formula and produce the same outcome. HSV-1 and HSV-2 are not rated separately. If you have both oral and genital outbreaks, the Board evaluates the combined impact as one condition.2Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1317876
Each rating level offers two ways to qualify: percentage of body surface affected, or type and duration of therapy required in the past twelve months. Meeting either one is enough.1eCFR. 38 CFR § 4.118 – Schedule of Ratings, Skin
- 0 percent. Lesions cover less than 5 percent of the body or exposed areas, and treatment has been limited to topical therapy over the past year. The condition is recognized as service-connected but pays nothing.
- 10 percent. Lesions cover 5 to less than 20 percent of the body or exposed areas, or systemic therapy has been required intermittently for less than six weeks in the past year.
- 30 percent. Lesions cover 20 to 40 percent of the body or exposed areas, or systemic therapy has been required for six weeks or more, but not constantly, over the past year.
- 60 percent. Lesions cover more than 40 percent of the body or exposed areas, or the veteran has needed constant or near-constant systemic therapy over the past year. This is the maximum schedular rating.
Why Valtrex and Acyclovir Push Ratings Higher
The line between topical and systemic therapy is the single most consequential detail in most herpes ratings. A 2018 amendment to the rating schedule defined the two clearly: topical therapy is applied through the skin, while systemic therapy is administered through any other route, including orally, by injection, by suppository, or intranasally.3Federal Register. Schedule for Rating Disabilities: Skin
That definition is why valacyclovir (Valtrex) and acyclovir count. They are taken by mouth and circulate through the body, which meets the regulatory definition of systemic therapy even though they are not steroids or immunosuppressants. Two court decisions cemented this reading. In Johnson v. Shulkin (2017), the Federal Circuit held that the phrase “systemic therapy such as corticosteroids” is exemplary, not exhaustive — steroids are one example, not the whole list.4U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Johnson v. Shulkin, No. 2016-2144 A year earlier, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims reached the same conclusion in Warren v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 194 (2016), extending compensation to “all systemic therapies that are like or similar to” the listed examples.5Midpage. Warren v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 194
The Board of Veterans’ Appeals has applied those holdings to herpes claims repeatedly. Veterans taking daily oral valacyclovir to manage recurring outbreaks have been found to meet the “constant or near-constant systemic therapy” threshold for a 60 percent rating.6Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A250083397Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 21077294 In a 2025 decision, the Board granted a 60 percent rating retroactive to 2003 based on a veteran’s long history of continuous oral antiviral use.8Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A25015598 The Board has also found that even when a veteran’s actual medication use was inconsistent because of outside circumstances, the clinical need for continuous suppressive therapy — established by outbreak frequency — can satisfy the highest rating.
Proving the Herpes Is Service-Connected
Before any rating attaches, you have to show the infection is tied to service. That means three things: a current medical diagnosis, evidence the infection occurred or was aggravated during service, and a medical nexus linking the two.9Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A25024043
Diagnosis is usually easy — a positive lab test or a physician’s clinical finding. The harder piece is the in-service link, because herpes can lie dormant for long stretches and may never have been formally diagnosed on active duty. Service treatment records showing skin complaints, rashes, or related diagnoses help, but they are not required. The Board has granted service connection where service records contain no formal herpes diagnosis, relying on documented skin complaints and the veteran’s own credible testimony about when symptoms first appeared.10Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A22022152
The VA also applies a benefit-of-the-doubt rule: when the evidence for and against service connection is roughly balanced, the Board decides in the veteran’s favor. In one 2025 case, the Board accepted a private lab record showing a positive HSV-2 result with a sample collection date during the veteran’s service period, even though the report itself was generated decades later.9Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A25024043
A nexus letter from a medical provider stating the infection is at least as likely as not related to service is not technically required, but it strengthens a claim significantly, especially when service treatment records are thin.
Military Sexual Trauma
Veterans who contracted herpes through military sexual trauma face different evidentiary hurdles, because assaults are rarely documented in service records. The VA allows the underlying event to be corroborated through indirect markers: requests for duty reassignment after the incident, STI testing or treatment in service records, behavioral changes such as declining work performance or increased substance use, and statements from family or friends who noticed changes.11Swords to Plowshares. VA Service Connection Claims for Military Sexual Trauma You are not required to share explicit details of the assault when filing.
Willful Misconduct
The VA can deny a claim on grounds of “willful misconduct,” a legal term that in this context can cover knowingly engaging in high-risk behavior. Claims filed in connection with military sexual trauma are not subject to that bar.
Why Claims Get Denied or Underrated
The most common denial reason is a weak nexus — not enough evidence connecting the current condition to something that happened in service.12Veterans Guide. Herpes VA Disability The second common failure mode is a Compensation and Pension examination scheduled while the veteran’s herpes is dormant, which makes it impossible for the examiner to assess severity accurately.
Under the Ardison v. Brown precedent, VA skin examinations should be scheduled during active flare-ups whenever possible. If the exam cannot be conducted during an active phase, the examiner must document why, gather the veteran’s account of symptom severity during outbreaks, and give an opinion on whether that account fits the medical record.13Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 24002343 If your C&P exam happened between outbreaks and your rating suffered because of it, that may be grounds for a new examination.
The Board has also rejected VA examiner opinions that fixate on the absence of a formal herpes diagnosis in service records while ignoring credible reports of continuous symptoms since service. Examiners are expected to weigh a veteran’s lay testimony about onset, frequency, and duration, and opinions that dismiss that testimony have been found inadequate.10Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A22022152
Secondary Conditions Can Add to Your Rating
A service-connected herpes rating opens the door to additional compensation for conditions caused or worsened by the infection. Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310, secondary service connection is available for any disability “proximately due to or has been aggravated by” a service-connected condition.
Mental health is the most frequent secondary claim. The Board has granted service connection for depression as secondary to genital herpes, finding that the diagnosis can affect mood, motivation, and self-esteem through pain, fear of transmission, and feelings of inadequacy. Anxiety and PTSD have also been claimed on secondary theories. Private medical opinions supporting a secondary mental health connection, including telehealth evaluations, cannot be summarily dismissed if they are competent and consistent with the record.14Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: A20003992p>
Herpes can also affect the eyes. The Board has granted separate service connection for herpes simplex of the eyes, including HSV keratitis, which is rated under the schedule for eye disorders rather than the skin formula.15Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 19178859
Reaching 100 Percent Pay Through TDIU
If herpes and its secondary conditions prevent you from holding substantially gainful employment, Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability pays at the 100 percent rate even when your combined schedular rating is lower. Under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16, the schedular path to TDIU generally requires at least one disability rated at 60 percent, or a combined rating of 70 percent with at least one condition at 40 percent.16eCFR. 38 CFR Part 4 – Schedule for Rating Disabilities Veterans who fall below those thresholds but still cannot work because of service-connected conditions can be referred for extraschedular consideration. Board decisions on herpes-related TDIU claims have been remanded for further development, meaning the claims are viable but require strong evidence tying the condition to the inability to work.7Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 21077294
What to Gather Before You File or Appeal
Build your evidence around the rating criteria themselves. Pull treatment records showing every prescription for oral antivirals, with dosage and duration across twelve-month periods. Keep an outbreak log recording frequency, duration, location on the body, and approximate surface area affected during each flare, which matters most when your C&P exam happens between outbreaks. Get a nexus letter from a treating physician tying the condition to service. Document any secondary conditions with their own treatment records, whether mental health notes, eye exams, or otherwise. Denied claims can be pursued through a Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence, a Higher-Level Review, or a direct appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and accredited veterans service organizations, attorneys, and claims agents can help without charging upfront.