 [ Symptoms ] if i scratch my genital herpes area can i spread it to anybody if i dont wash my hands after scratching  also can i spread it to other parts of my body like hands legs elbows arms  after scratching my genital area herpes [ Disease ] genital herpes tends to stay on the genitals and not spread to other areas on your body genital herpes is typically spread genitals to genitals from one person to another it is always a good policy to wash your hands after scratching your genitals whether you have herpes or not herpes is caused by a virus and those viruses can spread to others from freshly contaminated hands