Bad news: you probably have herpes and don't know it

Vox ^ | 04/23/2014 | by Susannah Locke

[SeekAndFind]

Yes, I'm talking to you. About 70% of Americans ages 14 to 49 have herpes, that is either the HSV-1 or HSV-2 versions. These viruses used to be clearly demarcated as oral and genital herpes, but these days it's clear that both can cause both types of infections.

Genital herpes is one of the most stigmatized of STI's, and it's far more common than most people think. But learning that you have it might just cause you more social harm than actual good. It's something that experts love to debate. Here are four facts you probably didn't want to know about herpes.

1. There's a good chance that you have herpes

If you catch chlamydia or gonorrhea, you can have it treated with antibiotics and it will go away. However, there is no cure for herpes. So once someone has it, she has it for life. Over an entire population, the cases just add up over time. This means that middle-aged adults have some shockingly high herpes rates. For example, 50 to 70 percent of single women aged 45 to 50 have herpes. (By the way, the chart above is for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), aka genital herpes. The other type is "oral herpes," HSV-1, although both viruses can infect people in both, um, places.)

2. There's an even higher chance if you're single

Maybe this isn't so surprising. But if you are single, you might want to take a look at the graph above. The red and purple are actual herpes rates. The solid lines are single people, and the dashed lines are people who are married or cohabiting. It's from this paper.

3. If you have herpes, you probably don't know it

[equaviator]

Cooties? No cooties on me!

[doorgunner69]

50 to 70 percent of single women aged 45 to 50 have herpes.

Word to the wise: stay far away from Cougars in singles bars.............

[GeronL]

how about celibate people?

[QuisCustodiet1776]

Well obviously the best solution to this problem is for more people to have more sex. Fecal sex, sex with animals, sex with dead animals - these are the behaviors that lead to mental peace and physical health.

Along with education. Now that we have been teaching our children properly for the last couple of generations about ‘safe’ sex we um, we... um.....

Well, what we really need to do is just kill all the Christians! They are the real source of conflict and problems on this planet!

[JaguarXKE]

That chart is racist.

[MNDude]

why do they group white, hispanics, other all together?

[JaguarXKE]

Word to the wise: stay far away from Cougars in singles bars...

No problemo. Happily married to same gal for 39 years. Have zero concern about Herpes.

[Cruz_West_Paul2016]

didn’t the likes of Al Sharpton accuse the white race of creating all of these diseases in Ancient times?

[MNDude]

So single women and blacks are most likely to have herpes? You could basically call the democrat party the party of herpes. It’d be interesting to see how many conservative women have herpes compared to liberal women.

[Sacajaweau]

Dr. Oz says 9 out of 10 have it.

[Tijeras_Slim]

why do they group white, hispanics, other all together?

It's George Zimmerman's fault.

[South40]

The researchers are racist. That chart proves it.

[Slicksadick]

It should be looked at like getting a scraped knee while skateboarding. If you’re not trying new tricks, you don’t scrape your knee.

[real saxophonist]

Herpes

[WKUHilltopper]

Toilet seats?

[Cruz_West_Paul2016]

I wonder how many single women catch these diseases from sitting on toilets in busy public restrooms/and/or using the faucets.

[Marcella]

“It’d be interesting to see how many conservative women have herpes compared to liberal women.”

According to the article, most people don’t know they have it, have no symptoms, so you would never get a count.

[RegulatorCountry]

Usually to make a statistical disparity less unfavorable to whatever representation they have in mind.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“how about celibate people?”

Pretty much everyone gets oral herpes as a little kid.

Has nothing to do with sex.