SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Herpes Incidence Increases

Genital herpes is apparently more common in the United States than had been previously believed, with as many as 31 million Americans infected with the painful venereal disease, researchers reported last week.

Based on blood samples from 4,201 Americans between 1976 and 1980, a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Atlanta’s Emory University found that 16.4% of individuals between the ages of 15 and 74 were infected with herpes simplex type 2. Based on that number, the researchers estimated that 25 million Americans were probably infected with the virus. Since a small number of cases of genital herpes is caused by infection with another herpes virus known as herpes simplex type 1--which usually causes fever blisters--the researchers estimated that a total of between 26 and 31 million Americans probably have genital herpes.