Understanding Herpes Shedding Rates: What Research Reveals About Symptomatic vs. Asymptomatic HSV-2
I’m not the biggest fan of statistics when it comes to herpes due to smaller research sample sizes, lack of inclusivity, and just the overall nature of how herpes reacts to everyone so individually. I don’t find them to be absolute. Despite this, they tend to bridge gaps in our unlearning and understanding.
10.2% versus 20.1% is representative of how many days people with asymptomatic HSV-2 shed the virus versus those with symptomatic HSV-2. This study conducted by Tronstein, Johnston, Huang, et al. in 2011 surveyed nearly 500 HSV-2 seropositive persons over 23,683 days between March 1992 and April 2008.
These results conclude that symptomatic HSV-2 infections (aka those who experience recurrent herpes) yield shedding rates twice as high and are three times as likely to experience lesions than are those with asymptomatic HSV-2. In addition, researchers found that the lowest rates of viral shedding existed among those individuals who remained asymptomatic throughout the duration of the study (less than 5% of days).
Yes, I know someone out there is going to ask my most popular question, “But what about HSV-1?!” I don’t have the answers and have yet to find a conclusive study that evaluates both oral and genital infections that I can share.
PS Whenever I’m utilizing external sources in my slides, I ALWAYS cite them (you should, too😇), whether it’s a research study or an individual on IG.