5 ms·

I'm sorry but can you tell me how asymptomatic Herpes has a negative effect on one's life? Most people who have Herpes don't know it. Frankly the scare over Her

by weeksie 17y ago

I'm sorry but can you tell me how asymptomatic Herpes has a negative effect on one's life? Most people who have Herpes don't know it. Frankly the scare over Herpes and HPV has a lot more to do with shaming people who are sexually active. I don't think you realize exactly how common these "diseases" are. Roughly 50% of the population carries HPV, sure some strains are linked to cancer but it's quite insignificant compared to the number of people who actually carry the virus. As for Herpes, for it to cause a problem you must be symptomatic, which as I stated earlier the vast majority of the population is not. To use these relatively harmless viruses as a way to scare people away from sex is disingenuous and dishonest. Whether or not it is OK to be promiscuous in the modern world is a moral discussion, it is perfectly possible to be healthy and have a lot of partners.

TriinT 17y ago
You have a point. I am not an expert on the topic, but it seems to me that an asymptomatic HSV carrier cannot infect anyone and, thus, there's no health problem, and no negative effect on one's life. Yes, it's possible to have many sexual partners and be healthy. One only needs to compare the rates of HSV and other STD's in Sweden (where sex education is serious) to places like rural U.S. (where religion, not common sense, dominates). Yes, there's a stigma associated with HSV and other similar virus. Epstein-Barr causes mononucleosis, but there's less stigma associated with it, perhaps because it's the "kiss disease", and kissing is apparently more innocent than fornication. On the other hand, I think stigmas are there for a reason. A legacy of a not so distant past where STD's where non-curable and non-treatable. Promiscuity is a moral issue, so I won't discuss it. I think one's sex life is better without any haunting STD's, and that's why I think it's not responsible to say that herpes is totally kosher. If one catches it, it's not the end of the world, but it's not a pleasant experience either.
- 83457 17y ago
  "it seems to me that an asymptomatic HSV carrier cannot infect anyone" Smacks forehead ... That is one of the big reason herpes is so wide spread. It gets pased on by people that aren't having, and may never have, an outbreak.
  - TriinT 17y ago
    If such people never have an outbreak, how can they shed the virus? Is the virus present in the mucosae even in the absence of visible blisters?
    - dunmalg 17y ago
      yes
      - barry-cotter 17y ago
        But not all the time.
  - billswift 17y ago
    I had shingles (a herpes zoster re-eruption) in 2000. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was shingles or a somehow widespread eruption of cold sores (herpes simplex), so I did some reading up on both. Neither is contagious except when they are presenting, ie when sores are present.
    - swolchok 17y ago
      Your claim appears to be false -- genital HSV can be transmitted whenever the virus is being shed, which can happen in the absence of symptoms. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex_virus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex_virus) disagrees at the end of the first paragraph, above the ToC. I'm at a major research university, so I was able to check their citation and confirm that it does in fact 1) appear to be a seminar/survey from a legitimate scientific journal (Lancet) and 2) say that viral shedding in the absence of sores is possible, citing what appear to be first-hand studies. I'll reproduce the citations here: 60 Lang A, Nikolich-Zugich J. Development and migration of protective CD8+ T cells into the nervous system following ocular herpes simplex virus-1 infection. J Immunol 2005; 174: 2919–25. 62 Wald A, Zeh J, Selke S, Ashley RL, Corey L. Virologic characteristics of subclinical and symptomatic genital herpes infections. N Engl J Med 1995; 333: 770–75. I was able to locate a (I think) public copy of the second study, by Wald et al.: http://depts.washington.edu/herpes/php_uploads/publications/Virologic%20characteristics.pdf http://depts.washington.edu/herpes/php_uploads/publications/... The abstract of the paper reports that "Among women with genital HSV-2 infection, subclinical shedding occurred on a mean of 2 percent of the days." Subclinical shedding is defined in the body of the paper, specifically under the "Statistical Analysis" heading on the first page, as "the isolation of HSV from the cervix, vulva, or rectum in the absence of genital or perianal lesions noted by the subjects or the clinicians." In summary, at least one study has proven that herpes shedding is possible without the presence of sores. I apologize for going to so much trouble to prove you wrong, but it's dangerous for people to be wrong about the possibility of transmission of STDs.
- teilo 17y ago
  You can indeed shed the virus without having a visible outbreak. All that is necessary for infection is having sex with an infected partner when they are shedding. Unless you have lab equipment at your disposal, you would never know.
dkarl 17y ago
I'm with you that HPV is generally overhyped, and for bad reasons, but as far as I know, the strains that raise cancer risk are not much (if any) less common than the "low-risk" strains that don't. I can't find any reference for this, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

by weeksie 17y ago

TriinT 17y ago

You have a point. I am not an expert on the topic, but it seems to me that an asymptomatic HSV carrier cannot infect anyone and, thus, there's no health problem, and no negative effect on one's life. Yes, it's possible to have many sexual partners and be healthy. One only needs to compare the rates of HSV and other STD's in Sweden (where sex education is serious) to places like rural U.S. (where religion, not common sense, dominates). Yes, there's a stigma associated with HSV and other similar virus. Epstein-Barr causes mononucleosis, but there's less stigma associated with it, perhaps because it's the "kiss disease", and kissing is apparently more innocent than fornication. On the other hand, I think stigmas are there for a reason. A legacy of a not so distant past where STD's where non-curable and non-treatable. Promiscuity is a moral issue, so I won't discuss it. I think one's sex life is better without any haunting STD's, and that's why I think it's not responsible to say that herpes is totally kosher. If one catches it, it's not the end of the world, but it's not a pleasant experience either.

83457 17y ago
"it seems to me that an asymptomatic HSV carrier cannot infect anyone" Smacks forehead ... That is one of the big reason herpes is so wide spread. It gets pased on by people that aren't having, and may never have, an outbreak.
- TriinT 17y ago
  If such people never have an outbreak, how can they shed the virus? Is the virus present in the mucosae even in the absence of visible blisters?
  - dunmalg 17y ago
    yes
    - barry-cotter 17y ago
      But not all the time.
- billswift 17y ago
  I had shingles (a herpes zoster re-eruption) in 2000. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was shingles or a somehow widespread eruption of cold sores (herpes simplex), so I did some reading up on both. Neither is contagious except when they are presenting, ie when sores are present.
  - swolchok 17y ago
    Your claim appears to be false -- genital HSV can be transmitted whenever the virus is being shed, which can happen in the absence of symptoms. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex_virus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex_virus) disagrees at the end of the first paragraph, above the ToC. I'm at a major research university, so I was able to check their citation and confirm that it does in fact 1) appear to be a seminar/survey from a legitimate scientific journal (Lancet) and 2) say that viral shedding in the absence of sores is possible, citing what appear to be first-hand studies. I'll reproduce the citations here: 60 Lang A, Nikolich-Zugich J. Development and migration of protective CD8+ T cells into the nervous system following ocular herpes simplex virus-1 infection. J Immunol 2005; 174: 2919–25. 62 Wald A, Zeh J, Selke S, Ashley RL, Corey L. Virologic characteristics of subclinical and symptomatic genital herpes infections. N Engl J Med 1995; 333: 770–75. I was able to locate a (I think) public copy of the second study, by Wald et al.: http://depts.washington.edu/herpes/php_uploads/publications/Virologic%20characteristics.pdf http://depts.washington.edu/herpes/php_uploads/publications/... The abstract of the paper reports that "Among women with genital HSV-2 infection, subclinical shedding occurred on a mean of 2 percent of the days." Subclinical shedding is defined in the body of the paper, specifically under the "Statistical Analysis" heading on the first page, as "the isolation of HSV from the cervix, vulva, or rectum in the absence of genital or perianal lesions noted by the subjects or the clinicians." In summary, at least one study has proven that herpes shedding is possible without the presence of sores. I apologize for going to so much trouble to prove you wrong, but it's dangerous for people to be wrong about the possibility of transmission of STDs.
teilo 17y ago
You can indeed shed the virus without having a visible outbreak. All that is necessary for infection is having sex with an infected partner when they are shedding. Unless you have lab equipment at your disposal, you would never know.

dkarl 17y ago

I'm with you that HPV is generally overhyped, and for bad reasons, but as far as I know, the strains that raise cancer risk are not much (if any) less common than the "low-risk" strains that don't. I can't find any reference for this, so please correct me if I'm wrong.