Herpes Infects One in Six in U.S.

Most don't know they have the disease, CDC says, upping risks for transmitting it to others

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

Related Encyclopedia • Abscess • Actinomycosis • Acute Myeloid Leukemia (Adult) • AIDS and HIV Infection More... Related Healthscout Videos Baby Steps: Fertility Findings Saving Infants from Killer Bacteria: NEC Patch It Up! The Flu Shot of the Future? Tumor Detecting App: Medicine's Next Big Thing? More... Related Animations • Animation: What is Genital Herpes? • Breast Reduction • Breast Self-Exam Video • Erectile Dysfunction More... Related Drug Information • Abilify • Actonel • Augmentin • Bactroban Cream More... Related News Articles • Prostate Size May Be Clue to Severity of Cancer • Many Gay Men Would Support 'Home HIV Test': Study • HIV Severity, Treatment Unrelated to Kids' Mental Woes: Study • H1N1 'Swine' Flu Makes a Comeback in Mexico More...

TUESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- As many as one in six Americans is infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), health officials said Tuesday.

HSV-2, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States, is a serious, incurable infection that lasts a lifetime, causing recurrent and painful genital sores, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Text Continues Below

---

"Preventing STDs is a public health challenge that we, as a nation, cannot afford to ignore," Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said Tuesday during a news conference.

The CDC estimates that 19 million new STD infections occur every year in the United States, almost half of them among young people, Fenton added.

"Young women, African Americans, and gay and bisexual men are especially hard hit," he said. "It is unacceptable that STDs remain such a widespread public health problem in the United States today."

The new findings on herpes, which were presented at the agency's 2010 National STD Prevention Conference, represent data from the 2005 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which involves households from across the country.

The prevalence of HSV-2 has remained stable, at about 17 percent of the U.S. population, since the last survey, which was done from 1999 to 2004.

"This stabilization in herpes rates follows a period of declining prevalence, down from 21 percent for the years 1988 to 1994," La'Shan Taylor, an officer with the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service and author of the report, said during the news conference.

According to the report, women and blacks are the most likely to be infected. In fact, the prevalence among women was 20.9 percent, nearly twice that of men, at 11.5 percent.

Page:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >>