I think they get them statistics from dr's reporting them. I will never believe 1 -4 americans have an std. maybe world wide in countries with little to no help,and then count that as 1 -4 as a world population, but who knows, remember america is only like 8-9 % of the world population.I think they say this BS to make ppl feel better about them selves.If this was so true, then why isn't more money being put into it to make a cure or a better suppressive med with less side effects.
You have to remember something, this disease is well over 1000 years old. There won't be a cure, I refuse to allow my self to get that hope up. After all, how do you cure something that they can not even find when it is not active ? The only way I can see a cure, is if they some how can destroy everything in a certain part of your immune system, and then, will your immune system rebuild it's self?The other thing, when it duplicates it's self, it doesn't leave it's self vulnerable, it duplicates and then pushes them new viruses out to new cells while it just sits behind closed doors so to speak. This is not a stupid virus, it is smart little mofo.

Did you know that when a person gets diagnosed with something like gonorrhea. Your dr is suppose to report that(your name included) to the cdc (centers for disease control and prevention) Then your suppose to report to them eveyone you have had sex with, so they can be tested .I haven't read any wheres that they had to do this with herpes, but I do know with others also like hiv.
It would seem to me, that all these countries would put their eggs in one basket and find a cure for these std's. But a part of me feels like the medicine companies are controlling this way to much. Std's are a huge money maker for them.
http://www.avert.org/std-statistics.htm
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/epid-std.html

has anyone seen this ?
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/herpes.html
I was thinking of getting one, to kinda use as an ice breaker.. What do ya think ? Its damn cute as a stuffed virus, prolly not so cute for real little bastard lol

Who could really know that? I am in college and i am taking at this time enviromental science. Alot of reasearch is tiring and really unnessary labor. Who really cares? Do you really think folks answers are right or just the ego wanting to discover something. Abstain that will stop it.

Abstain, seems to be the only way to kill this thing, or rather interact with those that are already in your boat!!. It sucks and yes, one wonders as Ugh says, if there is a conspiracy theory going on with the pharmaceutical companies to keep a cure out of sight, after all, we are in an evil world, filled with people out to profit over everyone's misfortune!!!! I too find it hard to believe that 1 in ever 4 people has it, just seems like I am the sore thumb sticking out a lot of times. Good topic though Jef!

I have been wondering the same thing, only the statistics I've seen say that about 16% of AMERICANS have GENITAL herpes (which is a little less than 1 out of every 6 people), that cold sores are still the most common form with people generally contracting the disease at a young age and a prevalence of between 50%-60% in the US (20%-33% of children contracting HSV-1 by the age of 5 and about 60%-85% of people contracting the virus by age 60), women have a higher prevalence of genital herpes at about 1 out of every 5 women having genital herpes, that these percentages are higher or lower in some other countries usually dependent on wealth.

I've probably only seen about 4 people other than myself with a cold sore in my life, but I am choosing to believe these statistics since outbreaks seem to recur less frequently over time so you might not know for a long time that someone has them, some people are asymptomatic carriers, and just because the people I'm looking at at any given moment aren't showing signs of a cold sore, does not mean they don't carry the virus. Maybe it's naive of me to believe these statistics, but it helps me feel a little better especially when I think about my future in dating. And yes, the CDC does have records sent by the various hospitals on STDs including Herpes, which is how they gather their data and statistics. The problem is, not everyone gets tested for herpes and many carriers of the virus are asymptomatic so I'm wondering how they can confidently assert these percentages? I've also read that people are more likely to contract the virus and that a majority of new cases arise from someone who doesn't show any symptoms and doesn't know they have it than from someone who does know they have it and are on suppressive drug therapy, so perhaps that's where they get their estimates from: adding an estimated amount of asymptomatic carriers.

As for a cure, there are a lot of companies with great ideas on how to cure herpes or at least better suppress and prevent viral shedding of the herpes virus, however, herpes pharmaceuticals does not receive that much attention because it's not viewed as life-threatening and thus does not receive much funding. It does seem to be receiving more attention as larger percentages of the population contract the virus, but it will still be probably at least 5 years before we see a cure. Yes, the herpes virus is hard to find a cure for because of it's unusual ability to hide from immunity cells and lay dormant, however, companies are looking at ways around this, such as sending cells in the system specifically to attack the herpes virus in it's dormant phase, or increasing the number of killer T cells, or drawing the virus out of the dormant phase. In exciting news, the creator of the HPV vaccine is now the head of a company whose primary focus is on a cure for herpes, and, I can't remember if it's from the same company or a different company, but one treatment in development has proven effective at creating an immunity against genital herpes in Guinea pigs. That treatment will be going into the next phase of study shortly but if I remember correctly it will be at least another year before we hear about the results from the next phase of that treatment. I have hope that there will be a cure in my lifetime (hoping in about 5 years!).

The problem is, each phase costs millions of dollars, just to aply for the right to hit that phase. I believe I have read all the articles that you have read about the cures or so called cures, even after reading, I still don't see anything in the next 10 years coming from it, yes I hope I'm wrong.The only thing wrong with the guinea pig thing,, Is it will take millions of dollars for the next phase, then millions more for the human phase, then millions more for the consumer phase

"These needs are unlikely to be met because about 20% of the general population is infected with HSV-2 in the USA and Europe, most of whom have no clinical need for antiherpetic therapy. Alternative control tools, such as immunotherapeutic strategies (therapeutic vaccines), are in preclinical development, but they are hampered by the absence of an adequate animal model and the lack of commitment from pharmaceutical companies and the public sector."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240031.php

pharmaceutical companies only see a cure as a lost of money, some one finds a cure, they will pay them millions for the recipe, just like the oil companies have bought the patents from ppl who have built electric cars.
But I sit here and say to my self, someone wants to solve this 1000 year old mystery, some one wants to be that person to stand on top of the world and say I DID IT !!!!!
Goodnight everyone

Thank you all for the research!!! I find it to be false those 1 of every 4 people seem to be too large of a number. There's so many questions it leads too.

Is their a medication that you can use if your engaging in copulation during the cycle?

@Iamatheid, there are no medications you can take to reduce the odds of transmission DURING an OUTBREAK, therefore, if you have any symptoms or signs of an outbreak, you should refrain from sexual contact. If you have a cold sore, no kissing or oral. If you have genital herpes, no intercourse. I've read the risk of transmitting the virus during an active outbreak is about 75%. Those are pretty high odds. I don't think I'd take that chance.

There are however, medications you can take to reduce the severity, length, and amount of recurrences of an outbreak, as well as reduce the amount of viral shedding (a time when there are no symptoms but the risk of transmission is increased). I believe Valtrex is the only prescription medication proven to decrease the odds of transmission as long as it's taken as suppressive therapy (taken daily, not just when there's an outbreak), but you would want to talk to a doctor to confirm. There are also supplements that are SAID to reduce the risk of transmission, however, I don't believe much research has been done to confirm these claims. The supplements include: 500 - 1000 mg of Lysine, 1000 mg of Red Marine Algae, 40 mg of Zinc, Resiquimod (haven't done any research on this one so I'm not sure about dosage), Olive Leaf, Andrographis, Echinacea, and Bioflavenoids in conjunction with Vitamin C. All of these are said to decrease the risk of transmission but will not 100% guarantee transmission won't occur.

I dont think the lysine reduces the transmission, I think it helps to keep the virus from duplicating in the cells, but nothing has been proven for the transmission, Zinc is a immune building vitamin and is suppose to help the immune system fight the virus, but with more digging I have read that zinc is not good to take daily, I believe most the other vitamins you mention are also immune builders to help ward this off. from the looks of it Thenewgirl has done about as much research as I have lol Do you also look at the negative of each ?? I believe the zinc was the worse of said vitamins

Yes, I think L-lysine has very limited side effects if any, from what I read, but I could be mistaken. Am currently on suppressive therapy (1 gram of Valacyclovir per day + the L-lysine, soon to try Red Marine Algae), however even with that, I am so paranoid about passing this on to another that I may just choose to wait as far as sex, and spend my time getting to know others in a different way. :-)

Lysine helps reduce the odds of transmission by keeping the virus in check, much like antiviral drugs do. And yes, I did read that zinc can be harmful to take daily in large doses. It was recommended if you take zinc daily to take no more 40mg.

@lostbuthopeful77, as long as you're not having an outbreak at the time, the odds of transmission are low, even lower if you're on suppressive therapy. Without suppressive therapy, it's about 10%. Suppressive therapy is said to reduce those odds by about 50% making it about 5% odds of transmitting. These figures are said to be based on a YEARLY time frame, not day by day, which means the odds of transmitting on any given day would be even lower than 5%. From what I've read, there have been couples (one positive, one negative) who have been together for 20 years without passing the virus! It partially depends on the (negative) person's immune system from what I've read. However, if it worries you that much, then perhaps it is a good idea to wait. Just don't pass up a good opportunity out of fear! You may regret that even more.

Also, I forgot to mention that I read Olive Leaf is said to reduce the odds of transmission by reducing the amount of days of viral shedding, which is another time the virus is contagious. Viral shedding is not seen and not felt therefore you won't even know it's happening which can make those times dangerous. Any decrease in viral shedding is a good thing!

@the new girl, thank you. I think I have always been somewhat of a paranoid personality when it came to sex thus waiting till close to 30 to loose my virginity and having had very few boyfriends since. It sucks that the last one I picked, despite my paranoia left me with a gift for life, guess that paranoia didn't help now, did it?? Am sorry just get worked up sometime.

@lostbuthopeful, you have HSV-1 orally, correct? If so, I wouldn't worry about that effecting your love life too much. I've had it for 15 years, I'm only 25, and I've had many boyfriends (sad to admit). As far as I know, the only person I've transmitted the virus to was before I even knew what it was (I used to get the sores on my nose and since my family and I don't know anyone with herpes, we thought it couldn't possibly be cold sores) so I wasn't cautious. My boyfriend of the time never complained or said anything about it. We loved each other deeply. We're still on good terms to this day and that was about 9 years ago. My boyfriends didn't get checked regularly for the virus and I know a portion of people with the virus are asymptomatic, but I imagine if the risk were that high, there'd be a lot of guys very unhappy with me.... From what I've read, a lot of people see cold sores as not really a big deal. For those of you who have it orally, be thankful you don't have it genitally! Although it looks the same and acts the same, there is a bigger stigma attached to genital herpes. If given a choice between public humiliation for the rest of my life or private but painful, I'd choose the former any day! I know it's embarrassing, but that's pretty much all it is.

Yes, what I have is HSV1 oral. Thank you so much for your words of wisdom and when I next log on, I will let you know about the Red Marine Algae - thanks for that tit bit of info :-)

Hi
I've been reading up on herpes 1 and 2 till my eyeballs fell out. Most research and the CDC suggest that about 1 in 6 women carry herpes 2 and about 1 in 8 for men. I think how that number gets so large is that the virus can be dormant for years and a person has no symptoms so the virus keeps getting spread. I have had zero symptoms so who knows how I got it, when, who etc. and I probably unknowingly passed it on. It's a bizarre virus. I think about half the population has herpes 1 - cold sores. I know several people that have had them and it was really common to see when I was a kid. No one thought it was a big deal. BUT, if you get the other one - and herpes 1 can make you more vulnerable to herpes 2 - everyone tends to freak out. Either way it's a virus - period. The sad part is that so many people have really bad breakouts that are painful etc. So far I've been lucky that way - just dumb luck.My friend went on Valtrex immediately and that usually minimizes outbreaks as well as reduces the possibility of transmission to someone else. His doctor says he prescribes herpes meds like candy and that means that it's pretty prevelant I'm thinking. There are herbs that supposedly help with all that too. But so far that's it. That's all I know cuz I'm new to this "club".