Herpes simplex was not always stigmatised. It was merely a cold sore in an unusual place until the 1970s. As late as 1975, a study of "Psychological morbidity in a clinic for sexually transmitted disease" does not mention herpes simplex because at that time, no significant morbidity problem (i.e. mental anxiety or illness) was associated with the virus.[98]
Pedro Cuatrecasas states, "during the R&D of acyclovir (Zovirax), marketing [department of Burroughs Wellcome] insisted that there were 'no markets' for this compound. Most had hardly heard of genital herpes..." Thus, marketing the medical condition – separating the 'normal cold sore' from the 'stigmatized genital infection' was to become the key to marketing the drug, a process now known as 'disease mongering'.[99][100]
Since the creation of the herpes hype, some people experience negative feelings related to the condition following diagnosis, in particular if they have acquired the genital form of the disease. Feelings can include depression, fear of rejection, feelings of isolation, fear of being found out, and self-destructive feelings.[101] These feelings usually lessen over time. Much of the hysteria and stigma surrounding herpes stems from a media campaign beginning in the late 1970s and peaking in the early 1980s. Multiple articles were worded in fear-mongering and anxiety-provoking terminology, such as the now-ubiquitous "attacks", "outbreaks", "victims", and "sufferers". At one point, the term "herpetic" even entered the popular lexicon. The articles were published by Reader's Digest, U.S. News, and Time magazine, among others. A made-for-TV movie was named Intimate Agony. The peak was when Time magazine had 'Herpes: The New Scarlet Letter' on the cover in August 1982, forever stigmatizing the word in the public mind.[81] Herpes support groups have been formed in the United States and the UK, providing information about herpes and running message forums and dating websites for sufferers. People with the herpes virus are often hesitant to divulge to other people, including friends and family, that they are infected. This is especially true of new or potential sexual partners whom they consider casual.[102]
If you get the cold sores, get the Abreva®. That magical balm knocks 'em out like Tyson deckin' your grandmother.
Can anyone explain this:
"That is because improved hygiene in rich countries is lowering HSV-1 infection rates in childhood, leaving young people more at risk of catching it via oral sex when they become sexually active."
They mean that because children aren't contracting HSV-1 from ordinary contamination and contact at early ages, as they typically do in developing countries, they are more likely to contract it from oral sex later in life. My guess is that if you contract the virus in childhood, there is less risk of a genital infection later in life because the antibodies would already be present.
I just read it as "improved hygiene increases the chance that young people are not yet infected when they inevitably become infected via oral sex." In other words, the improved hygiene has not lowered the adult infection rate.
If you get it above the neck, you are immune to it below the neck. So having occasional cold sores (being one of their two thirds) is actually a good thing....one less thing to worry about.
I got it when I was a kid, and still occasionally get coldsores on my lips. I used to mess around with Zovirax and related creams, but now just leave them until they go away (usually a couple of days). No touching, or licking because that just makes them last longer, or worse, spread.
Abreva is pretty useless. Its really expensive and only reduces the duration of a cold sore by 17.5 hours in clinical trials. That is not a noticeable timeframe to me.
Sort of. Oral HSV-1 can spread to genitals during oral sex. The article notes this is becoming more common.
As for HSV-2:
-More than 80% of people with herpes are undiagnosed
-Overall prevalence by the time people reach their forties is 26%.
-In the general population, one-fifth of women and 11.5% of men are infected.
You are right. HSV-2 is the infection mostly occurring in the genital area. However, HSV-1 (cold sores) can also transmit to the genital area for example via oral sex, even though such HSV-1 infection there is less likely than with HSV-2.
Addition: while oral sex often goes unprotected (HSV-1), HSV-2 transmits also with condoms during sexual penetration. Skin-on-skin contact in unprotected areas is enough for the virus to transmit. However, because of the motion and friction condoms protect women better than men.[1]
The CDC considers Herpes Simplex to be an STD if it involves the genitals [1]. According to the article, both HSV-1 and HSV-2 can cause genital herpes.
There are two common strains of the herpes simplex virus, called HSV-1 and HSV-2. Both can cause genital sores, and both can be transmitted sexually. Here are some facts: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs400/en/
It can be bad, but if you're the type of person reading HN, it means you probably can afford Valtrex if you have a really bad outbreak. You may never have a bad outbreak. You may have one and it will clear up in a day.
The hardest part of any STI for someone with access to health care is the fear and the disclosure, but here's one of the best written articles on the subject to say why disclosure isn't so bad: http://thehairpin.com/2012/04/the-perks-of-herpes/
(This is being heavily downvoted, I'll try to edit but may end up deleting.)
So I don't have herpes (EDIT: SIMPLEX, what nearly everyone has), and I realize it's not a big deal whether I do or don't. I do know I'm in a minority of adults who are in situations to regularly hook up with strangers, people who don't happen to have Herpes, and it's probably due to the fact that I don't actually do so; I'm very picky and basically don't hook up with strangers, just people I happen to know already or be introduced to, OR hitting it off in very rare cases, by really sharing something personal. In the past this included colleagues! (not very serious work.) What I mean is that if I hooked up wtih strangers even a few times - let's say 10 times in 4 years - then I'd probably have it by now.
My reasoning is that given like 80% infection rate, pretty much if I'm going to hook up with people who experience even the tiniest element of network effect, then I'd expect to get it fairly soon.
so far my strategy is just to hold out until I meet the right person, who is similar to myself and has had just a few sexual partners and longer relationships. I was married previously, for example, for several years. (I'm in my very early 30s.)
But I do feel like I might be missing out.
What do you guys suggest I do for more casual dating, other than starting from the pool of people I happen to know or coincidentally run into, or meet at parties or clubs but really, really share something with; rather than the pool of strangers ready to hook up? Given that nearly everyone has it, I'm just not ready for it.
By the way I'll go ahead and get it from someone if they're interesting enough to be in a long-term relationship with; big deal, luck of the draw.
But if I don't have such a specific person in mind, I'd rather apply that filter first . . . (or my version). maybe there should be a dating site for people who happen not to have it! we're certainly a minority.
It seems the pool of people you're interested in having sex with is roughly the same as the pool of people you say you would still be with even if they had herpes, so I don't know what the problem here is apart from feeling the need to share a lot of uninteresting personal info.
This is why downvotes are a stupid idea. So many mixed signals to misinterpret. Anyone downvoting this guy is part of the problem, because you're just locking him in his own cage of ignorance, without explaining to him why he's getting downvoted.
Anywho, the main error in your post really has to do with the fact that you'll catch this kind of thing from water fountains, silverware, accidentally sipping from the wrong glass, touching a paper cup against a fountain soda dispenser, after someone else did the same, and then drinking from said cup, sitting on toilet seats. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Now, instead of being locked in a prison of ignorance, you'll be locked in a prison of germophobia. Ah well...
-"I don't have herpes. I do know I'm in a minority of attractive and interesting people who don't happen to have Herpes, and it's probably due to the fact that I'm very picky and basically don't hook up with strangers"
Who the hell has been stroking your ego? Seriously!!!
You assume that people only get herpes from fucking other people who have the virus unbeknownst to them!
> it's probably due to the fact that I'm very picky and basically don't hook up with strangers, just people I happen to know already or be introduced to
[+] [-] nommm-nommm|10 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex#Society_and_cul...
Herpes simplex was not always stigmatised. It was merely a cold sore in an unusual place until the 1970s. As late as 1975, a study of "Psychological morbidity in a clinic for sexually transmitted disease" does not mention herpes simplex because at that time, no significant morbidity problem (i.e. mental anxiety or illness) was associated with the virus.[98]
Pedro Cuatrecasas states, "during the R&D of acyclovir (Zovirax), marketing [department of Burroughs Wellcome] insisted that there were 'no markets' for this compound. Most had hardly heard of genital herpes..." Thus, marketing the medical condition – separating the 'normal cold sore' from the 'stigmatized genital infection' was to become the key to marketing the drug, a process now known as 'disease mongering'.[99][100]
Since the creation of the herpes hype, some people experience negative feelings related to the condition following diagnosis, in particular if they have acquired the genital form of the disease. Feelings can include depression, fear of rejection, feelings of isolation, fear of being found out, and self-destructive feelings.[101] These feelings usually lessen over time. Much of the hysteria and stigma surrounding herpes stems from a media campaign beginning in the late 1970s and peaking in the early 1980s. Multiple articles were worded in fear-mongering and anxiety-provoking terminology, such as the now-ubiquitous "attacks", "outbreaks", "victims", and "sufferers". At one point, the term "herpetic" even entered the popular lexicon. The articles were published by Reader's Digest, U.S. News, and Time magazine, among others. A made-for-TV movie was named Intimate Agony. The peak was when Time magazine had 'Herpes: The New Scarlet Letter' on the cover in August 1982, forever stigmatizing the word in the public mind.[81] Herpes support groups have been formed in the United States and the UK, providing information about herpes and running message forums and dating websites for sufferers. People with the herpes virus are often hesitant to divulge to other people, including friends and family, that they are infected. This is especially true of new or potential sexual partners whom they consider casual.[102]
[+] [-] pravda|10 years ago|reply
Can anyone explain this: "That is because improved hygiene in rich countries is lowering HSV-1 infection rates in childhood, leaving young people more at risk of catching it via oral sex when they become sexually active."
[+] [-] joe5150|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thrownaway2424|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robbrown451|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rangibaby|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nommm-nommm|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foota|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] mirimir|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leephillips|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fredfoobar42|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] graeme|10 years ago|reply
As for HSV-2:
http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2011/04/latest-genital-herpes[+] [-] dansky|10 years ago|reply
Addition: while oral sex often goes unprotected (HSV-1), HSV-2 transmits also with condoms during sexual penetration. Skin-on-skin contact in unprotected areas is enough for the virus to transmit. However, because of the motion and friction condoms protect women better than men.[1]
[1] http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2721301b.html
[+] [-] kijin|10 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/default.htm
[+] [-] cdcarter|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swang|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] proksoup|10 years ago|reply
And don't lick someone's genitals if you have it in your mouth.
And before you let someone lick your genitals, ask them if they have it.
[+] [-] cdcarter|10 years ago|reply
The hardest part of any STI for someone with access to health care is the fear and the disclosure, but here's one of the best written articles on the subject to say why disclosure isn't so bad: http://thehairpin.com/2012/04/the-perks-of-herpes/
[+] [-] oxplot|10 years ago|reply
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/herpes/en/
[+] [-] techaddict009|10 years ago|reply
Is there any proper cure?
I dnt want that me or our future baby gets it.
[+] [-] throwawayt1me|10 years ago|reply
So I don't have herpes (EDIT: SIMPLEX, what nearly everyone has), and I realize it's not a big deal whether I do or don't. I do know I'm in a minority of adults who are in situations to regularly hook up with strangers, people who don't happen to have Herpes, and it's probably due to the fact that I don't actually do so; I'm very picky and basically don't hook up with strangers, just people I happen to know already or be introduced to, OR hitting it off in very rare cases, by really sharing something personal. In the past this included colleagues! (not very serious work.) What I mean is that if I hooked up wtih strangers even a few times - let's say 10 times in 4 years - then I'd probably have it by now.
My reasoning is that given like 80% infection rate, pretty much if I'm going to hook up with people who experience even the tiniest element of network effect, then I'd expect to get it fairly soon.
so far my strategy is just to hold out until I meet the right person, who is similar to myself and has had just a few sexual partners and longer relationships. I was married previously, for example, for several years. (I'm in my very early 30s.)
But I do feel like I might be missing out.
What do you guys suggest I do for more casual dating, other than starting from the pool of people I happen to know or coincidentally run into, or meet at parties or clubs but really, really share something with; rather than the pool of strangers ready to hook up? Given that nearly everyone has it, I'm just not ready for it.
By the way I'll go ahead and get it from someone if they're interesting enough to be in a long-term relationship with; big deal, luck of the draw.
But if I don't have such a specific person in mind, I'd rather apply that filter first . . . (or my version). maybe there should be a dating site for people who happen not to have it! we're certainly a minority.
[+] [-] joe5150|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rohansingh|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chickumpox|10 years ago|reply
Anywho, the main error in your post really has to do with the fact that you'll catch this kind of thing from water fountains, silverware, accidentally sipping from the wrong glass, touching a paper cup against a fountain soda dispenser, after someone else did the same, and then drinking from said cup, sitting on toilet seats. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Now, instead of being locked in a prison of ignorance, you'll be locked in a prison of germophobia. Ah well...
[+] [-] Grazester|10 years ago|reply
Who the hell has been stroking your ego? Seriously!!! You assume that people only get herpes from fucking other people who have the virus unbeknownst to them!
[+] [-] rangibaby|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wavefunction|10 years ago|reply
You're not that interesting though, judging from your post.
[+] [-] thedz|10 years ago|reply
> it's probably due to the fact that I'm very picky and basically don't hook up with strangers, just people I happen to know already or be introduced to