- Researchers have confirmed what some physicians have
theorized -- and what some people infected with genital herpes were reluctant
to believe: You can spread the disease without even knowing you have it.
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- That's worrisome to health experts because an estimated
25 percent of all Americans have the contagious disease, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -- but most don't know
it.
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- Perhaps that's why the number of people infected with
genital herpes has increased so much in recent years, the experts speculate.
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- Because genital herpes can have subtle or even no apparent
symptoms, as many as 75 percent of those infected aren't aware of it, says
Dr. Karl Beutner, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at the
University of California at San Francisco.
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- They unwittingly can transmit the disease to someone
else, who in turn could develop painful symptoms, infect yet another sexual
partner or infect a newborn during birth, experts say. Although herpes
is not fatal in adults, it can be in an infant. Herpes sores also allow
easier transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
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- The idea of unknowingly having the disease -- and possibly
passing it on to others -- shocks some people, concerns others and "some
of them feel guilty," says Kathleen Stine, a nurse practitioner who
worked on a recent study of genital herpes at the University of Washington.
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- Stine and her colleagues found that people who appear
asymptomatic -- and who likely don't know they have the disease --- could
be as infectious as people who know their diagnosis. Their findings appeared
in a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
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- Infections up 30 percent in 20 years
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- That may be the answer to the puzzle of why the rate
of genital herpes has increased during the past decade even though more
and more people are using condoms, the researchers say. The CDC says the
prevalence of genital herpes in the United States has increased 30 percent
in the past two decades.
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- Genital herpes, which attacks the body through tiny passages
in the skin, is caused by the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). It's
transmitted by sex, and also can be spread through oral sex if the carrier
has a herpes sore on the mouth or genitals.
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- The virus can cause blisters, ulcers or crusts on the
genital or anal areas and the buttocks. But not always.
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- Dr. Anna Wald, director of the Virology Research Clinic
at the University of Washington, says the researchers found the virus present
in genital secretions when people had no symptoms.
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- As a result, she says, medical providers will have to
make greater efforts to identify and control the infection.
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- And sexually active people will "have to have an
awkward conversation and talk to their partners," Beutner adds.
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- Herpes has no cure. All doctors can do, experts say,
is suppress the disease with medication, such as acyclovir.
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- But whether the medication helps prevent transmission
is still under investigation.
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- Although latex condoms cut the risk of spreading the
infection, abstinence remains the only guaranteed method to prevent the
transmission of genital herpes.
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- What To Do
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- Researchers at the University of Washington are testing
several new vaccines that might help people who have genital herpes. They're
also testing medicines to see what kind might help prevent transmission
of the disease. People interested in participating in these studies should
call the Virology Research Clinic at (206) 720-4340.
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