Half of all Americans get cold sores and 12 percent have genital herpes and rates of of both forms are declining in the US, according to a new CDC report.
About 11 percent fewer people in the US reported having oral herpes in 2016 than did so in 2000, and rates of genital herpes fell by about six percent.
Both forms of the herpes virus are incurable and contagious through close contact.
For the first time, rates of both are falling, thanks to better hygiene and safer sex practices, the report’s lead author told Daily Mail Online.
Rates of oral, or type 1, herpes are declining steadily in the US, new CDC data show
Herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV1 and HSV2) are two nearly genetically identical strains out of the eight in the herpes virus family that commonly affect humans.
HSV1 most commonly affects the lips, presenting as so-called cold sores.
As the steady decline in cases of herpes 1 continues, Dr McQuillian says that the form seems to have become slightly more common in genital areas too.
Dr McQuillian explains: ‘Teens are trying to do safe sex and oral sex, so we’re starting to see herpes type 1 below the belt…it’s not as clear cut as when I was a kid.’
HSV2, on the other hand, typically breaks out on and around the genitals and is primarily transmitted through sexual contact and is the more feared of the two.
Unfortunately, even condoms cannot entirely protect partners from infecting one another with the sexually transmitted disease.
Once a person is infected with the virus, it remains in their system for life, lying dormant between outbreaks.
Three medications – acyclovir, famciclovir, and valacyclovir – can treat either form of herpes, but nothing can cure the virus.
The declining prevalence of it in the US population is even better news than it seems: since no one recovers from herpes, this means that fewer people are being newly infected each year.
Dr Geraldine McQuillian, lead author of the new report, says that while numbers of herpes 1 infections have been falling for some time, this is the first time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has seen a decline in herpes 2 as well.
‘This is really exciting because it’s a very common virus and, with herpes 2, it places people at a higher risk for HIV/AIDS, so any time we see something decreasing that increases HIV risk, that’s a very good story to be able to tell,’ Dr McQuillian says.
Herpes 2 is linked to a two- to three-fold higher risk of contracting HIV, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Though rates of genital herpes are falling across the board, the virus is still far more common among black Americans than people of other races
Even with antiviral treatment, herpes 2 causes open sores on the genitals of infected people, leaving them more vulnerable to additional infections, including HIV.
While both forms of herpes declining quite consistently across all races in the US, herpes 2 remains far more common among non-Hispanic black than any other race.
For example, 34.6 percent of black Americans have herpes 2, as compared to only eight percent of non-Hispanic whites and 9.4 percent of Mexican-Americans, according to the new study.
Dr McQuillian said that of the people with herpes 2 that she spoke to, the vast majority did not know they had it and had never had sores.
Even if people have been asymptomatic their whole lives, ‘we tell them so that they will not be surprised if, after a bad cold or flu, they might develop a lesion, or because your immune system is not as strong as age,’ Dr McQuillian says.
With or without sores, herpes can be transmitted through vaginal, anal or oral sex, as well through saliva.
It is difficult to say what exactly is driving these encouraging declines, but Dr McQuillian suspects it is related to changing living situations and cleanliness practices.
In the case of herpes 1, ‘Some [studies] have said that it is driven by an increase in hand-washing and basic lack of crowding,’ she says.
‘People are using more hand sanitizer and are more attuned to that kind of activity to prevent flu and that will help prevent herpes transmission, too,’ Dr McQuillian adds.
She suggests that the decrease in herpes two is more likely related more people being more cautious in the bedroom.
‘It might be a reaction to the AIDS pandemic, and now people are more attuned to safe sex practices,’ Dr McQuillian says.
She adds that the declines held out across virtually all populations and that the new report’s findings are consistent with trends documented in other recent research in the US and abroad.