Two-thirds of the world’s population apparently has the virus that causes herpes also known as cold sores, according to the World Health Organization.
That means 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 have the incurable herpes virus. But, it is important to point out that Herpes causes more than just cold sores.
The herpes simplex 1 virus (HSV-1) can also cause sores on the genitals — and oral sex is becoming a leading way it’s being transmitted, the WHO reported in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.
“The global burden of HSV-1 infection is huge,” the WHO research team writes.
“An estimated 140 million people aged 15-49 years were calculated to have prevalent genital HSV-1 infection globally in 2012,” they wrote.
Therefore, there are two kinds of incurable herpes viruses causing Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the world.
Herpes Simplex Virus – 2 (HSV-2) and Herpes Simplex Virus – 1, cause genital herpes and cold sores, respectively.
It is important to point out that most people contract HSV-1 in childhood via kisses.
“The new estimates highlight the crucial need for countries to improve data collection for both HSV types and sexually transmitted infections in general,” said Dr. Marleen Temmerman, director of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research.
In the Americas, which has the lowest rates of herpes, World Health Organization estimates that 49 percent of women, or 178 million women, have HSV-1 and 39 percent of men, or 142 million, do.
The region that has the highest rates of Herpes is in Africa and in Southeast Asia.
Both viruses cause painful blisters and both can spread. Both viruses can be treated with drugs but the drugs just control the virus. There is no cure for the herpes infection.
According to one scientific study, humans caught herpes viruses from chimpanzees.
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