Why You've Likely Had Sex with Someone Living with Herpes
Here’s why you’ve ~likely~ had sex with someone living with herpes:
Despite what you’ve learned in sex ed or popular culture, herpes isn’t rare.
The WHO (2020) estimates 67% of the global population (~3.7 billion people) below the age of 50 live with HSV-1 (can cause oral or genital herpes).
Further, the WHO (2020) estimates 13% of the global population between 14-49 years (around 491 million people) live with HSV-2 (typically causes genital herpes).
The CDC estimates 572,000 *new* infections in 2018 across the United States. In the same year, the CDC estimated 18.6 million total *living* with HSV-2.
Since herpes is not included in standard STI screening panels, most people are unaware of their herpes status unless they experience presenting symptoms and/or seek diagnosis/treatment.
Similarly, some people do not realize that cold sores are presenting symptoms resulting from oral HSV-1 infections, so they fail to disclose to their partners if/when performing oral sex.
Or, they *are* aware that cold sores are herpes and choose to deny their herpes status because it’s not “real herpes” (this is a result of stigma and STI hierarchy).
Popular media and sex ed classrooms fail to model how to engage in mutual disclosure of STI screening history and status, which forces many into secrecy and shame (prioritizing stigma over health).
Without an awareness or knowledge if one’s herpes status, there is typically an absence of disclosure.
…which means, you’ve likely encountered a sexual partner living with herpes, whether oral or genital. This isn’t meant as a scare tactic, it’s meant as a reality check. Herpes is neither good nor bad, it is just a real potential outcome of being a sexually active human.