New York City and Herpes

Working in an environment with only guys, and being the only girl, you come to find out that there are very few sacred topics of discussion amongst men. It’s pretty much a no-holds barred environment where you can ask anything, speak of anything or admit to anything gross without being judged or embarrassed (unless of course you want to speak about your latest celebrity crush on a man, in which case, good luck to you because in place of a participating audience, you will get all kinds of negative comments directed at that male celebrity’s sexual preference or parts of his anatomy because men generally do not like speaking of other men in that manner). So, it wasn’t odd a few days ago when the topic of herpes came up. One guy told another guy that “his mama had herpes” and it spiraled downwards from there, but, it did spawn off a separate more serious conversation about herpes when one of the more serious guys exclaimed that over 90% of the US population has “herpes” in some way shape or form, whether oral or genital. I about flipped out when I heard that. Considering I research it quite a bit, I guess I didn’t know as much about STDs as I thought I did.

As of June 2008, the percentage of the US population that has genital herpes is approximately 19%; however, according to a recent study by the New York City Health Department, over 25% of adults in the city have the herpes virus that affects the genitals, much higher than the national average. What makes the findings of this study a little more alarming is the fact that those carriers of the herpes simplex virus 2, which is sexually transmitted and currently has no cure, are actually more susceptible to contracting the HIV virus. The main author of the study, Dr. Julia Schillinger, states, “A person who’s herpes-infected…is two or three times more likely to get HIV.” With the incidence of HIV in the United States still of epidemic proportions with some estimates showing over 2 million infected in the nation, these are definitely not the kind of results you would want to hear from this kind of study. Even more worrisome is the fact that in New York City, the percentage of Hispanics with the genital herpes virus is approximately 35%; still, this pales in comparison to the almost 50% of African-Americans who are carrying the virus.

The herpes virus is often a silent virus and many carriers oftentimes never know they have it. It has been said that only fifteen percent of those who carry the genital herpes virus ever experience the painful symptoms that come along with the virus. The rest of the carriers may never even become aware they have it, making it much easier to transmit in sexual relations. Dr. Julia Schillinger adds that the “herpes diagnosis…does not pose a threat to the quality of life of most people.” She also suggested that men involved in sexually active homosexual relationships and those people whose partners are known carriers of the virus get tested often and use condoms to help prevent transmission and infection.