When I asked for a herpes screening after a past partner thought he had symptoms (false alarm, luckily), I was told that if you are tested when you aren’t exhibiting symptoms, the test has a 50% accurate rate, so the clinic I went to didn’t test unless the rash was present. Which kind of left me wondering what the…

My OB/GYN back home said that half of her practice had it, and that she had never seen a child be affected a birth from a mother that knew her diagnosis.

How are you so dumb? A baby died recently because someone with cold sores kissed him and he got meningitis. It’s not only about giving birth and having herpes. And chances are you have it!

Yup! Exactly this. It’s amazing how people like to ignore that fact. Parents/relatives kissing their kids are how most people get HSV-1 to begin with.

The odds are that she did have it before usher. Hysteria like this is exactly the problem and only happens because people don’t understand herpes. Anything that can possibly be transmitted sexually is suddenly in some separate category. As if we don’t pass all kinds of diseases including herpes to each other knowingly…

BTW, Fake News is a specific thing that we all need to understand and take seriously. It is not something to scream out like Trump every time someone says something you disagree with or which might be an honest mistake.

Plenty of people who will never know they have the virus can also pass it on. It is not a virus that’s checked for in std screenings. Most of us got it from our parents or relatives as kids. Very easy to spread

If I’m reading your comment right you’re saying they couldn’t differentiate between types I and II with the blood test then? I know they can differentiate between types I and II with a blood test now at least. But they still don’t usually test for it unless you have an outbreak, I guess because the test can’t tell…

Herpes is never included in routine STI screenings. Doctors only test for it when there are symptoms or in a patients request - and most never request it. She’d have no way of pinpointing when she’d caught it unless she had an outbreak - although that still isn’t clear cut proof.

Most people don’t know they have it and never will and they are really the ones spreading it.

Have you ever had a cold sore or dated someone who at any point in their life had a cold sore? If so you are a carrier of type 1 herpes, which in addition to cold sores can cause genital outbreaks identical type 2 herpes (outbreaks of genital type 1 are on the rise in recent years, google it). If you haven’t ever had…

Should someone with cold sores disclose before oral sex? B/c they could give HSV1 to a person’s genitals.

70% of adults have type 1 herpes, “cold sores”, and that strain if you look closer at that science you’ve cited is the major culprit of health problems. It’s actually killed a few newborns. Type 2, “genital herpes”, which is carried by at least 25% of adults (most people are never tested) is much less likely to cause…

Yup. 90% of humans have some form of herpes. If you don’t have herpes, you are actually in the minorty. For most people, they get zero sysmptons from it. For a great many others it involves getting a rash or some red bumps...which, ya know, we’re human, we get rashes and red bumps from a ton of things.

I’ll point out to the haters that Type 1 is the much more dangerous strain to infants (the only dangerous strain? I’ve only heard of type 1 causing health issues) and that doesn’t stop people from slobbering all over newborns with their very likely cold sore infected lips. 70%+ adults carry type 1 herpes.

First off, it isn’t strictly an STD. You can get it on your back for instance. Skin to skin contact will do. The stigmatization occurred after the medicine came out. We are talking 90% of people with oral herpes and 20% general population with genital.

My last girlfriend told me - after we broke up - that she had herpes. She assumed she got it from me. I’d never had a symptom before. I got checked. The test came back negative. Talked to my doctor about it: Oh, STD screenings, we don’t even bother checking for herpes, the false positive rate is too high.” So I had…

Maybe inflated, but if you include ALL types then maybe not so much. Also adding that since it’s not included in annual paps or regular STI testing people think they’re “fine” when tests come back all clear even though they’ve never been tested. As far as “it’s just a rash” depends on the person. I’ve been infected…

The only reasonable comment on this topic thus far. It’s amazing how people react to herpes when as recently as the 1970s or whatever decade pre-Valtrex, it was not a big deal! It was only stigmatized to make money for pharma. And before everyone gets up in my face about it, yes it’s deadly to babies but that is both…

still, the risk is lower than having unprotected sex.