Herpes is rampant in the world. The medical society's best guess is that 1 in 5 citizens (over 14 years old) in the US have genital herpes. While the herpes virus isn't any more than apainful annoyance in and of itself, it aids in the transmition of HIV and other STDs. The disease is manageable, but incurable and there is no vaccination against it, yet.
Herpes is related to chickenpox, shingles and cold sores.
Here's the CDC's page on the topic, data is from 1999:
Quote:Herpes
Genital herpes-herpes simplex virus type two (HSV-2)-is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the United States, with as many as one million people in the United States becoming infected each year. While genital herpes continues to spread across all social, economic, racial and ethnic boundaries, prevalence of infection increased most dramatically in teens and young adults in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Fleming, 1997). The disease is potentially fatal in newborns and can be particularly severe in people with HIV infection.
Symptoms of herpes-recurrent painful ulcers-can be treated, but the infection cannot be cured. Most people with herpes have no symptoms and are unaware of their infection. In a national house-hold survey, less than 10 percent of people who tested positive with herpes knew they were infected (Fleming, 1997). With or without visible symptoms, the disease can be transmitted between sex partners, from mothers to newborns, and can increase a person's risk of becoming infected with HIV. Genital herpes can also make HIV-infected individuals more infectious and is believed to play a role in the heterosexual spread of HIV in the United States. Preventing the spread of herpes may help slow both epidemics.
* More than one in five Americans-45 million people-are infected with genital herpes (Fleming, 1997).
* From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, herpes prevalence increased 30 percent (Fleming, 1997).
* Preliminary 1999 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) suggest that the prevalence of hsv-2 has remained relatively stable over the 1990s. In 1999, the estimated prevalence was 19 percent among the general U.S. population ages 14 to 49 years old (McQuillan, 2000).
CDC
The diagnosis rate continues to climb. As the info above says, less than 10% of the people who carry the virus know they carry it. Dasha did the math: 2%, 1 in 50, of the total US population has herpes and knows it. I'm guessing more than those have a hunch that something is up. I think that the prevelance among people in my little world - single late 20s to late 30s serial daters - is much higher.
So. Why doesn't anyone talk about it? Why is there still such a stigma associated with it? How do the people you know with herpes deal with marriage, dating, childbirth? Would you date someone with herpes? Would you take a vaccine against it (one should be available soon)?
life is unfair.
Had me very[/i] worried there for a minute, dag.
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