Herpes Handbook

Herpes Transmission


Herpes is spread by direct contact including:

Sexual contact

Anal sex

Oral sex

Vaginal sex

as well as

Kissing

Skin-to-skin contact which transmits HSV-1 and HSV-2

Genital herpes

Can be transmitted with or without the presence of sores or other symptoms

Is often transmitted by people who do not realize infection can be passed on even when there are no symptoms

Is often transmitted by people unaware they are infected

Statistics

An estimated 40 million people have genital herpes which is a chronic viral infection

About 500,000 new people get symptomatic herpes each year

There are even more people without symptoms

Genital herpes infection

has increased 30% in the U.S.

has increased most dramatically among young white teens (12-19 years old)

among whites is 5 times higher than 20 years ago

is twice as likely to infect 20-29 year old adults

Source: http://bitly.com/101-herpes-facts

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/