The Young & The Condomless: Is Herpes The New HPV?
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
sex
12:00PM, Monday July 28th 2008
We scored a nice little quote in Page Six Magazine‘s story on “Generation Unsafe Sex”, but some of the other people interviewed left us with the question above. A half dozen or so NYC singles, as well as a Jezebel blogger and a sex educator, were interviewed about the topic of safe sex (and the fact that more and more people are not having it)—this quote, in particular, stuck out:
“Once STDs and death seemed synonymous. Today, the accepted reality is that the STDs one is likely to contract through unprotected sex are more mundane, which is underscored by the fact that so many of them are cured using the same antibiotics you’d use for a sinus infection.”
It’s true, the drugs that are prescribed for STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea work quickly and effectively, making those STDs more gross than life threatening—though an untreated case of the former could result in infertility. But what about herpes? Is the gift that keeps on giving considered totally yawn-worthy in this day and age? A coworker was just telling me today that a friend of hers has the herps, but has been outbreak-free for 10 years, thanks to Valtrex—this woman’s gynecologist actually told her that she didn’t even need to tell her sexual partners that she had herpes, since infecting another person when there isn’t an outbreak is very unlikely. This shocked me. When did an STD go from being easy-to-treat to “You don’t even need to tell your sexual partners”? Like HPV, is contracting herpes becoming no big whoop?
HPV is one of the STIs that’s lost its negative stigma in recent years, in part because it’s very hard to avoid getting—condoms don’t provide much protection—and it’s almost an accepted reality that you’ll get HPV at some time in your life. I always took HPV seriously because I had it. Before it finally banished itself from my body, I had to deal with gyno appointment after gyno appointment, and had my cervix scraped more times than I care to count. While HPV is a totally manageable sexually transmitted infection - via regular pap smears and procedures to remove abnormal pre-cancerous cells—it was a pain in the ass to have. Who likes going to the gynecologist more than once a year? I don’t, and not just because my gyno, for whatever reason, always gives me the rectal check.
In a way, all the yawning about herpes as an STD does demonstrate a positive step in removing the shameful stigma associated with it—as we’ve written before, just because you’ve got herpes, doesn’t mean you’re destined for a life of celibacy. Likewise, if your one-and-only happens to have a case of the herps, that should hardly be a dealbreaker. Herpes is incredibly manageable and many people go decades without an outbreak. But just because herpes isn’t a death sentence—or even that insanely dangerous to your health, if managed properly—doesn’t mean care shouldn’t be taken to avoid getting it. Wear a condom.
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J
wrote on July 28 2008 @ 12:06 pm: [report]
Actually, they are now supposedly testing a herpes vaccine which can cure people with herpes 1 and 2. The only drawback is that for the medication to take effect, the person will have to one last outbreak. I know some people have severe outbreaks, so it will probably be quite a painful experience.
Samantha Anastasiou
wrote on July 29 2008 @ 02:05 pm: [report]
you CAN spread herpes without having an outbreak! that is very irresponsible reporting!
Amelia
wrote on July 29 2008 @ 02:33 pm: [report]
@Samantha Anastasiou Never said you couldn’t. Just said it was unlikely and rare, which is true. I personally would never take the risk!
Go-To Girl
wrote on July 29 2008 @ 04:23 pm: [report]
Almost 100% of the students I see in my office are those who have just been diagnosed with herpes. It’s common, it sucks to have it, but it won’t kill you, make you infertile, or spread on any other part of your body.
Here’s a link to the website for the HerpeVac vaccine.
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/herpevac/studyover_faqs.htm
atlgirl
wrote on July 29 2008 @ 06:08 pm: [report]
@Go-To-Girl: I actually think herpes can spread to other parts of your body through what’s called self-inoculation. I dated a guy who actually had it on his arm, and I know some people get it in their eye, which sounds very scary.
J
wrote on July 30 2008 @ 07:32 am: [report]
When herpes spread to other parts of the body, it’s normally the result of immunosuppression. Ex. if you are very ill - think cancer - your body’s defenses are less effective, making you vulnerable to viruses and other illnesses that most people can fight off.
As for shingles, which is from the same family of herpes, that can brought on by illness or severe stress. I had a friend who developed a case of shingles during exam period, because she was so stressed. Stress-induced shingles is pretty common and can appear on different parts of the body, e.g. face, head, back.
number9
wrote on July 31 2008 @ 03:56 pm: [report]
you can cross-infect yourself. my doctor told me to never touch my eyes, nose, mouth while drying off from showering, etc. you can also contract it orally from an infected person (fever blisters).
and… my ex-husband WAS wearing a condom when he contracted it, then promptly brought it home to me. it’s transmitted from skin-to-skin contact, and not just where a penis and condom would come in contact with. his outbreak was at the base where a condom couldn’t cover.
honestly, after i got over the freak-out of having it, humiliated from the stigma, etc., i quickly realized that it wasn’t the end of the world. it won’t cause cancer, make me infertile, etc., like some other stds would. my arms and legs haven’t fallen off, and other than a few minor breakouts that amount to a small stingy dot or two, that’s all there is to it.
being single again, i’m also amazed at the number of men willing to take the risk - most could care less (no, i don’t sleep around, but i have openly discussed it with friends, dates, etc.). i think they are crazy to chance it, but, then again, it hasn’t squashed my sex-life at all, so, really, i don’t know what the big broohaha is all about. it’s so common now…
S
wrote on August 16 2008 @ 02:50 pm: [report]
Just FYI, Beta Mannan (google it) is amazing for eradicating HPV (or at least was for me), for anyone still dealing with the much-too-frequent gyno-going…
Rikonline
wrote on August 17 2008 @ 03:54 pm: [report]
Hi, I have heard about the vaccine but it wont cure herpes it will only prevent people that doesnt have Herpes to get it, No virus have been removed from the human body ever I think, Some people mostly men dont have outbreaks but that doesnt mean they dont have it and that they wont infect other people this wy people with herpes must use the condom and avoid having sex while having an outbreak
Sammy
wrote on August 28 2008 @ 10:50 am: [report]
I was surprised to find out that herpes was so common. But although it is common, I feel like it shouldn’t become “the norm”. Those who have it should not just throw caution to the wind and figure that it’s no big deal. It’s still important to discuss it with your partner before becoming intimate because it is something you’ll have to deal with the rest of your life. Take heed to herpes sites out there that help individuals learn the signs, how its passed on, and what to do to reduce side effects. There are also herpes dating sites available for people who are more comfortable dating someone who already has herpes instead of initiating that sometimes uncomfortable conversation of “I have herpes”.
Devinesecret
wrote on September 5 2008 @ 07:05 am: [report]
So i am 20 years old - married for a year- husbands military been togeather 4 yrs - when we broke up for a few months - he #&@$% this tramp - 40 yrs old - married- with kids. nice huh? Anyways, he had what looked to be like genital warts on this “Memeber” i Had got him some medicine, (moms friends a gyno) and it went away.. i didnt have any physical signs so i was hoping i was good. A couple months later I got a red bump.. there was only one, and where it was i had assumed maybe just an ingrown hair, or cut myself shaving, who knows? ... goes away… Then i decided well i better go get checked. i go and get checked.. my gyno said everything looked good… get a letter in the mail saying i was clean everything was normal…Yesturday i get a random phone call… i guess they had taken another look at my pap.. and everything was not normal. Yesturday at 20 yrs old i found out i have herpes. #&@$% HERPES!!!!!!!! Its a hard thing to except or believe, i cant believe this is happening to me, its difficult to even come to terms with. :(
emily
wrote on September 21 2008 @ 08:52 pm: [report]
thanks go-to girl for the comment. i was actually in my health center on campus last week hoping for a blood test to confirm what type of herpes i have (a culture swab confirmed i was positive for it 2 months ago) and they though they denied that such a test existed—they insisted that they could only do this when i had an open sore and they’d never heard of the blood test i was speaking of—the woman gave me a couple pamphlets and empathetically mentioned that she’d been giving out a lot of these lately. there’s something about knowing that so many other students have this that’s comforting. maybe it shouldn’t be. maybe i should feel sorry for my generation and their lack of common sense when it comes to safe sex. but for now i think they should be doing something to help those of us with herpes not feel so #&@$% about a stupid skin condition
Coco
wrote on September 24 2008 @ 10:11 pm: [report]
please tell me people don’t consider the herp as serious? as i am reading the stigma lessens and that is disappointing.
dude what is wrong with the youth and not so youth of today. be smart about your male and female parts.