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The most significant line from the article for me: "The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 536 million people worldwide are infected with he

The most significant line from the article for me: "The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 536 million people worldwide are infected with herpes..." That's really an astonishing number. From a utilitarian standpoint this finding must be incredibly important.

gojomo 18y ago
That number was a surprise on the low side for me, because I've often heard estimates that 25%-30% of adults in the US have HSV-2. Naively scaling that up to worldwide would have suggested up to 2 billion infections.
- froo 18y ago
  Except that that figure is quite high when you consider other nation's rates of infection For example, Australia's rate of HSV-2 is around 12% while the UK is around 10% even though we have fairly similar cultural backgrounds when it comes to sexual activity. I would expect that rate to be much lower in some middle eastern and asian cultures due to differences in culture regarding sexual activity. 536 million might be on the conservative side, but I would suggest it's nowhere near 2 billion.
  - gojomo 18y ago
    I don't doubt the WHO's overall estimate; just pointing out a contrast -- both between regions and in what numbers astonish people.
  - mmmurf 18y ago
    Could also be measurement error...
    - redrobot5050 18y ago
      Could be, but its probably also a cultural thing. Most Americans don't view oral sex as sexual contact, and yet, most STIs are transmittable from it. This, alongside sexual education in schools that focuses on that 1% (used correctly) failure rate of condoms and lack of hard scientific evidence it will prevent the spread of HPV, leading them to think "condoms are unreliable, so why bother?" has led to a thriving youth culture of unprotected oral sex...and later, when they become sexually active, unprotected sex. And it just so happens one of the primary ways women catch HSV-2 is through a partner infecting them orally. There are "virgins" getting herpes in America. Now, again, culturally, I've been told that Aussie men are incredibly chauvinistic, so maybe a smaller percentage is likely to engage in oral sex. I'm generalizing and speculating here , so take it with a grain of salt. In the UK, the sex education could be better. From talks with my friends from southern states, it seems you'd have to deliberately try to do worse.
      - likpok 18y ago
        Just to add a little elucidation to the sex-ed thing, the places that don't focus on abstinence as the only technique don't really explain the numbers. That's a 1% chance that after a year of regular sexual intercourse. Which makes the per-use numbers much, much smaller. Furthermore, there was at least some issue in that many doctors were more conservative, and didn't really like talking about oral sex. (I heard this from a doctor who was complaining about this).
- rbanffy 18y ago
  Since many infected people never display any symptoms, I was too expecting a much larger number of carriers.

gojomo 18y ago

That number was a surprise on the low side for me, because I've often heard estimates that 25%-30% of adults in the US have HSV-2. Naively scaling that up to worldwide would have suggested up to 2 billion infections.

froo 18y ago
Except that that figure is quite high when you consider other nation's rates of infection For example, Australia's rate of HSV-2 is around 12% while the UK is around 10% even though we have fairly similar cultural backgrounds when it comes to sexual activity. I would expect that rate to be much lower in some middle eastern and asian cultures due to differences in culture regarding sexual activity. 536 million might be on the conservative side, but I would suggest it's nowhere near 2 billion.
- gojomo 18y ago
  I don't doubt the WHO's overall estimate; just pointing out a contrast -- both between regions and in what numbers astonish people.
- mmmurf 18y ago
  Could also be measurement error...
  - redrobot5050 18y ago
    Could be, but its probably also a cultural thing. Most Americans don't view oral sex as sexual contact, and yet, most STIs are transmittable from it. This, alongside sexual education in schools that focuses on that 1% (used correctly) failure rate of condoms and lack of hard scientific evidence it will prevent the spread of HPV, leading them to think "condoms are unreliable, so why bother?" has led to a thriving youth culture of unprotected oral sex...and later, when they become sexually active, unprotected sex. And it just so happens one of the primary ways women catch HSV-2 is through a partner infecting them orally. There are "virgins" getting herpes in America. Now, again, culturally, I've been told that Aussie men are incredibly chauvinistic, so maybe a smaller percentage is likely to engage in oral sex. I'm generalizing and speculating here , so take it with a grain of salt. In the UK, the sex education could be better. From talks with my friends from southern states, it seems you'd have to deliberately try to do worse.
    - likpok 18y ago
      Just to add a little elucidation to the sex-ed thing, the places that don't focus on abstinence as the only technique don't really explain the numbers. That's a 1% chance that after a year of regular sexual intercourse. Which makes the per-use numbers much, much smaller. Furthermore, there was at least some issue in that many doctors were more conservative, and didn't really like talking about oral sex. (I heard this from a doctor who was complaining about this).
rbanffy 18y ago
Since many infected people never display any symptoms, I was too expecting a much larger number of carriers.