Herpes simplex virus is a lifelong infection, which often has mild or no symptoms at all.
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More than half a billion people worldwide are infected with the virus that causes genital herpes, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports.
More than 1 billion people are infected with HSV-1 in the Western Pacific region, while Southeast Asia has almost 1 billion cases, according to WHO’s first global estimates, published Wednesday in an article in the journal PLOS ONE. HSV-1 is mainly transmitted by oral-oral contact which causes orolabial herpes, whilst HSV-2 is primarily sexually transmitted and causes genital herpes.
In the Americas, around 39 per cent of women and 49 per cent of men are infected, while in the Eastern Mediterranean, 75 per hcent of both men and women are infected. According to World Health Organization, an estimated 140 million people between 15 and 49 years old have genital HSV-1 infections.
Reuters reported that while better hygiene practices have reduced the incidence of HSV-1 during childhood in rich countries, people are likely to have the virus when they become sexually active, contracting it from oral sex.
The researchers wrote that even though neither type of herpes is fatal, except in very rare circumstances, but it doesn’t mean that they can be taken lightly as it can be damaging to mental well-being, relationships and physical comfort.
The agency urged countries to improve data collection for both types of the herpes simplex virus and sexually transmitted infections in general.
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The agency and its partners are working to speed up development of vaccines and other medicines to prevent future infections caused by the herpes simplex virus. While symptoms can be treated with antiviral solutions, these can recur after an initial episode. Several candidate vaccines and microbicides are now being studied. As per the WHO, two-thirds of the world’s population under the age group of 50 years has this highly infectious virus that leads to cold sores around the mouth. But because they haven’t built up a resistance to the virus, these unexposed young people could be more susceptible to a genital infection if they contract HSV-1 through sexual activity later in life.
