Study Finds Genital Herpes Transmissible Even When Lesions Not Present

New research has revealed that those with genital herpes are able to give the virus to sexual partners, even while lesions are not present. While this has been believed in the past, Fred Wyand, a spokesperson for the American Social Health Association, says that “the data here looks really robust.” The herpes simplex virus type two, also called HSV-2, is one of the world’s more common STDs, or sexually transmitted diseases, and affects over five hundred and thirty-six million people worldwide. About sixteen percent of adults in the United States have tested positively for HSV-2, although only ten to twenty-five percent of those tested correctly recognized the disease.

In 1999, blood tests to detect the presence of HSV-2 began to be widely available, and in recent years have made it simpler for people to know whether they have contracted genital herpes, especially if the disease is not active. Government surveys have concluded that roughly eighty percent of those who are infected are not aware that they have genital herpes, according to co-author of the study Dr. Christine Johnston. The report was issued in the April 13 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, which focused on immunology and infectious diseases.

According to Wyand, most people who have contracted the disease are not even aware that they have it. He says that those infected may even have symptoms, but could be unable to recognize what they are. Wyand says that the symptoms could be so mild that they attribute them to another common ailment, such as yeast infections, chafing, or jock itch. It is also known that those who do not experience symptoms can still transmit the disease, which plays a large role in the spread of HSV-2. Johnston says that the study was aimed at using a sensitive DNA test to detect the virus, which allows researchers to provide a more clear estimation of how frequently those with the disease undergo shedding. Shedding refers to the period of time during which the virus is actively reproducing, and is thus transmissible to others.

The trial in the study involved almost five hundred people, all of whom had tested positively for the virus. Each person in the study took genital swabs for no less than thirty days, meaning that a total of over twenty-eight thousand swabs were collected and analyzed. The virus was detected in twenty percent of swabs in the four hundred and ten people that displayed symptoms, as opposed to ten percent on days with no symptoms. The amount of virus shed was the same regardless of whether obvious symptoms were recorded. Johnston says that each of the three aforementioned strategies help diminish the rate of transmission by anywhere between thirty and fifty percent. She adds that considering all of these strategies beforehand and comparing their utilization is an important step in treating herpes.