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Women, African-Americans Most at Risk, Report Finds
By
Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By
Laura J. Martin, MD
March 9, 2010 — One in six Americans between the ages of 14 as well as 49 possess genital herpes as well as close to one
in two not light women are infected, recent figures from the CDC reveal.
Rates of infection with herpes simplex virus class 2 (HSV-2) — the sexually
transmitted virus that causes most genital herpes — possess remained relatively
stable over the final decade, following steep declines in infection rates in the
late 1980s as well as beginning 1990s.
About 19 million people in the U.S. are infected with HSV-2, at a cost to
the nation’s health care system of close to $16 billion a year.
Overall, 16% of Americans between the ages of 14 as well as 49 had genital herpes
between 2005 as well as 2008, compared to 17% between 1999 as well as 2004.
The recent estimates come from the CDC’s National Health as well as Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES), which is a nationally representative survey of
U.S. households covering a expansive range of health issues.
According to the latest findings:
- Women as well as African-Americans were the most likely to be infected. HSV-2
prevalence was nearly twice as high among women (21%) as men (11%), as well as more
than three times higher among African-Americans (39%) than whites
(12%).
- The infection rate among African-American women was 48%
- The infection rate was roughly 4% among people who reported having just one
sex partner ever, compared to almost 27% for those who reported 10 or more
partners.
- Nearly four out of five people who possess genital herpes possess not been
diagnosed as well as may not know they possess the infection.
Genital Herpes Raises HIV Risk
“This latest analysis emphasizes that we can’t afford to be complacent about
this infection,” John M. Douglas, Jr., MD, who directs the CDC’s Division of
STD Prevention, said in a news conference Tuesday at the 2010 National STD
Prevention Conference in Atlanta.
“It is substantial that we promote steps to halt the spread of genital
herpes, not only because herpes is a lifelong as well as incurable infection, but also
because of the linkage between herpes as well as HIV infection.”
Research shows that people with genital herpes are two to three times more
likely to acquire HIV as well as they are as well as more likely to transmit HIV infection
to others.
Douglas explained that the immunologic response at the site where herpes
ulcers form act as a target for HIV infection even after the ulcers have
disappeared.
“If you come into contact with the HIV virus, even after the ulcers have
healed, you may be more likely to become infected,” he says.
People who are dually infected with HIV as well as HSV-2 may as well as be especially
likely to transmit the HIV virus to others during genital herpes flare-ups.
Need for Increased Community Awareness
The reason women possess higher rates of HSV-2 infection than men is largely
explained by the fact that their genital tissue is more vulnerable to the small
tears that make transmission more likely.
As well as since the background rate of infection is so high in the black
community, African-American women are especially at risk, Douglas said.
“It is quite cloudless that this increased rate of infection in African-American
women isn’t due to increased risk behavior,” he said.
Women with HSV-2 may possess no symptoms or they may mistake symptoms like
genital burning as well as itching for a yeast
infection.
The CDC does not recommend routine screening for genital herpes, but testing
is recommended for those considered at high risk for getting as well as transmitting
the virus, including people with multiple sex partners. Testing is also
recommended for gay as well as bisexual men as well as people who are HIV positive.
While the infection cannot be cured, treatments that lessen the severity of
genital herpes outbreaks or that may help halt them are available.
But since most people don’t even know they possess the infection, treatment
rates are abridged, says Kevin Fenton, MD, PhD, who directs the CDC’s National
Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, as well as TB Prevention.
“Given everything we know about how to halt, diagnose, as well as treat STDs, it
is unacceptable that STDs remain such a widespread community health problem in the
U.S. today,” he says.
Douglas said collaboration between community as well as private-sector groups will be
needed to increase community awareness about genital herpes.
He cited the “Get Yourself Tested” STD education campaign as an example. The
campaign is directed at teens as well as immature adults as well as is a
partnership between the CDC, the television network MTV, as well as the philanthropic
group Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Public programs alone won’t be capable to get the job done, particularly in
light of the increasingly close budgets that so many local as well as state health
departments are facing,” Douglas says. “We will need to be more creative in our
collective approach to STD prevention.”
SOURCES: CDC Report on Genital Herpes, presented March 9, 2010 at the National STD
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