More Than 500 Million People Have Genital Herpes Virus

More than 500 million people are infected worldwide with the virus that causes genital herpes and more than 20 million people become newly infected each year, according to a study published in the international public health journal, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

Herpes simplex virus type 2 is commonly spread through sexual contact and leads to lifelong infection. While painful genital ulcerations are the classical symptom, most people have mild symptoms and don't know that they are infected. These persons can thus unknowingly infect others.

"Serious consequences include an increased risk of acquiring, and likely transmitting, HIV, and transmission from infected mothers to their babies during birth, which can cause brain damage and death," says Dr George Schmid, Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization.

This first-ever estimate of the global burden found that roughly 16% of the world's population in the 15-49 year-old age group were infected, with considerable geographic variation. Women are more commonly infected than men, with the highest prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa where up to 70% of women are infected.

The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is an international journal of public health with a special focus on developing countries. It is one of the world's leading public health journals and the flagship periodical of the World Health Organization.