Jump to content
  • Want to be a part of a supportive community? Join the H Opp community for free.

    Welcome to the Herpes Opportunity Support Forum! We are a supportive and positive group to help you discover and live your Opportunity. Together, we can shed the shame and embrace vulnerability and true connection. Because who you are is more important than what you have. Get your free e-book and handouts here: https://www.herpesopportunity.com/lp/ebook

Bedsider's "Gone Viral: 6 things you should know about herpes"


Recommended Posts

Hey y'all!

 

Yesterday Bedsider (one of the best and funniest resources for all things contraceptive/safer sex) sent out a great email about the herp. I figured I'd share it here. I'm so glad to see more of this. Check it out below!

 

Xo

 

https://bedsider.org/features/869-gone-viral-6-things-you-should-know-about-herpes

 

By Ina Park, MD MS

 

 

Genital herpes is one of the most feared and misunderstood sexually transmitted infections (STIs, a.k.a. STDs). Here are 6 things you probably didn’t know about this virus (but should) in honor of STD Awareness Month.

 

1. You’re having sex on the tip of an enormous iceberg.

You might ask a prospective sex partner whether they’ve had STIs (like herpes) before you have sex. (We highly recommend doing this!) Maybe one of your partners has even told you they had genital herpes. But people who actually know they have herpes are just the tip of the iceberg of everyone who has the virus. In fact, of the 50 million men and women estimated to have genital herpes in the United States, over 80% are not aware that they have it.

 

That means if you are dealing with a new herpes diagnosis, you may not have any idea where it came from. This doesn’t mean one of your partners is lying to you; most people just don’t realize that they were ever infected. So even if your inner detective wants to hunt down the partner who gave you herpes, if you’ve had more than 1 or 2 partners, chances are you just won’t be able to be 100% sure. Regardless of whether or not you find the source, it’s important for you to tell your partners about it so they can get tested and protect themselves.

 

2. The iceberg is melting.

Unlike other STIs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis) which continue to increase, genital herpes is actually not becoming more common. Twenty five years ago, 1 in 5 people had genital herpes; now fewer than 1 in 6 people are infected.

 

3. In the world of herpes, we are not all created equal.

Your likelihood of having herpes depends largely on your age, gender, and the gender of your sex partners. Since herpes is a lifelong infection, people over 40 years of age are more likely to have a positive blood test for herpes (1 in 4 people) than a teenager who hasn’t had as much time to become infected (1 in 100 teens). Like with many other STIs, women get the short end of the stick: 1 in 5 of us will be infected with herpes before age 50, while for men overall it’s about 1 in 9. For men who have sex with men it’s about 1 in 3.

 

4. It takes two.

Did you know there are actually two viruses that can cause genital herpes? One is called herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), and the other is herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). You may have heard of HSV-1 because it typically causes cold sores on the mouth, but it can easily cause the same types of sores on your genitals or anus too. One major difference: HSV-1 can easily infect you above and below the belt, while HSV-2 is almost exclusively confined to the genitals and anus.

 

5. The culprit behind genital herpes is changing, and this may actually be good news.

For those of us hoping for an effective vaccine, the failure of multiple herpes vaccine studies has been heartbreaking. An upside is that one of these studies revealed a surprising shift in the cause of genital herpes in young women. The study found that HSV-1 (the virus that usually causes oral herpes)was twice as likely to cause genital outbreaks as HSV-2. This information backs up another study among college-age women, which demonstrated that nearly 80% of genital herpes outbreaks were caused by HSV-1, not HSV-2.

 

Although having a genital herpes outbreak isn’t fun for anyone, if the outbreak is caused by genital HSV-1, then it’s more likely to be a one-and-done situation. People who have a genital outbreak caused by HSV-1 are less likely to have multiple outbreaks, less likely to shed virus that could infect others, and actually get some protection against catching HSV-2 in their genitals in the future. There’s your silver lining.

 

6. Herpes is not exactly forever.

People always label herpes as the “incurable” STI. While technically this is true, most people who have herpes outbreaks do not suffer with them for the rest of their life. For people who get genital herpes (e.g., from HSV-2) outbreaks will usually be most frequent for the first two years after diagnosis, as is the chance of passing it on to someone else. After two years, most people are only shedding herpes virus on 2% of the days in a given year. (That’s only 7 days out of 365.) You don’t know when those days will be, so condoms are still a good idea. Plus, there are multiple treatments that your health care provider can prescribe that can help prevent spreading herpes to someone else.

 

The bottom line: While you can’t completely avoid herpes and other STIs, there’s a lot you can do to reduce your risk. First, get informed, get tested, then get out there and have fun!

Link to comment

Yes. Some of these stats appear to be way off. It is correct that more women than men are infected with HSV2 and the percentage increases with age, but the percentages they site for different ages appear to be way, way off. Especially unfortunate when the goal is to increase awareness.

Link to comment

@serendipity515 - I'm not sure but it appears they may have used the average HSV2 rate for 14-49 year olds as the max percentage for the highest age in the range for combined HSV2 and GHSV1, so two problems there. Then they mentioned HSV1 also causes genital herpes but did not appear to include HSV1 cases in the overall percentages of people infected with genital herpes. Also mentions people with HSV1 are likely to only have a single outbreak but I believe it is even more common for them (and for people with HSV2) to have no outbreaks at all, so more context on that would've been nice if the purpose is to raise awareness.

 

 

 

Link to comment

@serendipity515 - Also, I'm not sure where they got the information that genital herpes rates as a whole are declining. Mostly I've read there has been a decline in the average HSV2 infection rate for 14-49 year olds and an increase in GHSV1. I have no idea why this is. If I had to guess, and if it is not simply due to better testing ability and awareness that HSV1 can infect genitals, I would say maybe more people are using condoms which partially protects from HSV2 but more people are also having oral sex during which barriers are not as commonly used. I've read fewer young people are getting oral HSV1, so perhaps there is a domino effect of younger people having reduced partial immunity to HSV1 so they get GHSV1 at higher rates, but those same people with GHSV1 get HSV2 at lower rates because the GHSV1 is providing partial immunity, therefore lowering the overall rates of HSV2? I really don't know.

 

One issue I've seen is that, although it is recognized that HSV1 can cause genital herpes, the statistics for genital herpes infections almost always reflect only the percentage infected with HSV2. Of course, it's difficult to quantify the GHSV1 cases because blood tests don't reveal the location, but there must be some way they are coming up with the statistic that "up to half" or "about half" or "more than half" (I've seen all these varied references) of newly diagnosed genital herpes cases are caused by HSV1. I assume it is swab based. But I very rarely see those numbers integrated into genital herpes statistics. The only exception I can think of is the statistic that 25-30% of pregnant women have genital herpes which I believe includes both GHSV1 and HSV2.

 

Another issue is that the infection percentage increases rapidly and sharply with age in certain demographics (such as adolescent girls, young black women and single non-black women in their 40s) so providing averages does not provide a clear picture of risk in such cases. Furthermore, because genital herpes is not curable and many people continue having sex beyond 49 years old, the percentage of infected people only continues to increase.

 

If we consider how many people are capable of transmitting genital herpes through a sex act, we're talking about anyone infected with either HSV1 (with greatest risk being oral to genital transmission) or HSV2 (risk being intercourse). I think it's something like 2/3 of people in their 20s, 4/5 of people in their 30s and close to everyone in their 40s who is infected with at least one of the viruses.

Link to comment

My giver's last partner had only just caught it, didn't realise or say at the time. It was four months later that I slept with her with protection.. she didn't realise or say at the time either. Both transmissions were almost instant (caused by a few instances of sex). So it was two occasions that have swayed my opinion - plus listening to my body and judging from symptoms during my first 6 months, it seems pretty obvious that I'm in a much better position now. Sure every individual case is different, but I think it's a fair assumption in general.

Link to comment

@BoatyMcBoatface

 

@hippyherpy is a self confessed casual sex lover.... who has a bit more "casual" outlook about the virus than some... but he does make his potential partners aware of his status and they make adult choices to be with him.... he does use condoms and takes antivirals... and anyone who is into casual sex really *should* understand that there is ALWAYS a risk of getting some kind of STD. The fact that HH knows he has herpes and uses protection and monitors his symptoms actually makes him "safer" in a way, than someone who is in the 80% of those who don't know they have it (and who may be having casual sex and unwittingly passing it on)

 

As for this blog - the one good thing is it's making another place for awareness. I agree that some of the stats are questionable. It's thought that at least 50% of *unmarried* women age 50 and above have HSV2 ... but the stats include longer term married women... so really we need to have some of these stats broken down a bit better, but I doubt that will happen any time soon.

 

It also does seem that the stats (everywhere) are generalized HSV1 and 2 for genital herpes. But when they blood test for HSV1 in the research that won't have told them WHERE the person had it so without symptoms that data is useless for the stats.

 

The stats I have are that 50% of all new Genital cases are from HSV1 ... and the cause is an increase in oral sex in the last 20-30 yrs as people have come to think of oral sex as "not sex" ... or they have the belief that it's "safer" (ie, you cant get pregnant and they don't know that you can get HSV1 from anyone who has the cold sore version of the virus). And as mentioned above, people don't tend to use condoms/barriers for oral sex.

 

As with everything else Herpes, the stats and such are variable depending on which research you have. But we are all mostly somewhere in the same ballpark. And attaching to stats isn't always that helpful.... bottom line is that those of us who are aware that we have it (the 20%) are, in a way, fortunate in that we have a better chance of protecting our partners from getting it than someone who is asymptomatic and clueless....the CDC itself says that the majority of H is caught from people who are asymptomatic.

 

Imagine finding out that YOU have herpes when your lover comes to tell you they have just got their results back? Now you get to have guilt AND self shame or however it occurs for you. Instead we can educate prospective partners and give them choice in the matter, and we can do what we can to protect them.

Link to comment

I've read some of his posts and I knew hippy has been telling the girls ahead of time and takes precautions. When I had my first breakout and sores I was so upset about everything the last thing on my mind was sex and knew it was going to take a long time to heal physically and emotionally and I think it's kinda funny that he's just like whatever I'm going to get laid anyways.

Link to comment

The thing is that herpes is just one thing on a long list of tests that are given in life, and potential "setbacks" to sex.

 

Think about other obstacles you might have overcome to improve your love life. Herpes, despite the stigma is actually a minor issue for the vast majority of people. I'm talkin about the actual experience of having it.

 

Actually, the stigma is bigger than the virus.

 

It's just cold sores on your genitals.

 

 

Then there is great strength in having this thing that everyone is so scared of and you have this secret that it's not a big deal. It's almost like having a leg up on everyone else in a way. Like part of being in a special club hundreds of years ago that knows that the world is round and not flat and you aren't going to fall off of it.

 

Assuming your symptoms aren't so bad, the rest of dealing with herpes is mental. You can make a choice to let it take over or not. It is your choice.

 

My thing with herpes now is getting more info about how it relates to HIV as I am very sexually active. Nobody has commented on my HIV and herpes thread and can't find the info I'm looking for elsewhere so that's a drag..

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...