We are Not Alone ...

[FLNewH]

Hi All. Those of you that have read some of my posts know that I am new to this world. One of the worst feelings when you first find out you are positive is that you feel alone. Can't tell anyone. Nobody else should know. My specific words were "this is a Need to Know and you don't Need to Know". And then you start to research and learn about this virus and the stats ... about 16% of population has this ... 80% of those don't even know.

 

Hell, for arguments sake, lets lower the percentage to just 10% of the population. US population is about 316,000,000 people (in 2013 per Google). This means that around 31,600,000 people have herpes. Which means that about 25,280,000 people (in the US alone) DO NOT KNOW THEY HAVE IT. This is MILLION!!!! Even if you cut this number in half - that is still a lot of millions of people.

 

The point? We are not alone!!! YOU are not alone!!!

 

Calculating these numbers makes me so angry that there is not more being done to help identify people that are positive and then educate to prevent the spread of this. HSV, HPV, HIV - ALL of these viruses need to be part of STANDARD STD tests done. AND, a standard STD test should be done as part as EVERYONE'S annual checkup. Guys, every year you finally give into your nagging girlfriend or wife and go to the doctor for your annual check-up, THIS should be something that is automatically included with an annual exam. Ladies, every year we go and have our hoo-ha checked, this should be part of our regular annual exam. And, when a patient says "I want to be tested for everything" the practitioner should TELL that patient exactly what is and what is not included in that test. I am so floored by the fact that Insurance Companies, the gov't, the health practitioners (WHOEVER!) do not feel this is important! I feel like I need to do something about this. I feel like I need to be contacting someone and raising hell!

[Vanguard1]

I agree with everything you said but I feel that you significantly low balled your number. But more to the point, if 30 million plus people were seemingly diagnosed with HSV, it would crush the stigma and fear associated with H.

[mr_hopp]

Yes, your math is off (more on that below), but your logic is ON! :) We are NOT alone! You are not alone! Not only about herpes, but about having something in your life that feels like it's the end of the world that's causing you suffering. The vast majority of people out there have SOMETHING they feel this way about. So none of us are alone in feeling those feelings of shame. Shame is a universal feeling. The only people who might feel alone are the people who hasn't felt a deep sense of shame at some point in their lives (which is nobody on this planet). The question is, what do we do about it? Do we focus on what we're ashamed of and make it more and more real? Or do we focus on growing, becoming more aware of how our thoughts and beliefs impact our experience of our lives?

 

So onto the math part ... ;)

 

The important part of the stat that you left out above is the 16% is in the age range of 14-49 (don't ask me why they randomly chose this age range to sample). And if you're interested in the totally anal math breakdown of that (I've been known to be a bit anal with math, grammar, and a few other things), I put the whole breakdown in the e-book that's all over this site. I even made a few pretty graphs for the more visual thinkers out there. :)

 

The most surprising stat is if you gathered all the Americans alone (ages 14-49) who have genital herpes and had them hold hands, they would reach more than the circumference of the world (unfortunately quite a few would drown since they'd be standing on ocean, but c'mon people, it's a thought experiment). ;)

 

Here's a screenshot from page 4 of the e-book:

http://screencast.com/t/1HXoaZ4EBTRK

 

And here's the e-book + handouts with all the facts for anyone who hasn't read it yet:

http://eepurl.com/b4IPP

[FLNewH]

Thanks for the correction of the math :-) Either way - it's a lot of people :-) I just can't believe the lack of education on something that affects so many people.

 

Maybe it's because I am a new H 'member' but I am feeling very passionate about this. I am going to start researching organizations I can join to help educate people about this. Eh - I needed a hobby anyway hahahaha

[seeker]

ive always been curious, how do they estimate the number of people who don't know they have it?

[FLNewH]

hahahaha right?!?!?!?! My guess would be a tally of people like me who find out and say they didn't know they had it?

[Trying]

They did a study of 11,000 people here and tested them, that's how they got the percentage, and of that percentage 80-85% of them were unaware....yes I may or may not be overly obsessed with googling info, I think I need to stop

[seeker]

step away from the google.