How Common is Herpes – Herpes Statistics

In all of the United States adult population, over 50 percent is infected with oral herpes (usually known as fever blisters or cold sores). Most individuals contract oral herpes at the time they were still kids by accepting a kiss from an infected relative or friend.

A study carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that about 16 percent (that is, one in six) individuals within the age range of 14 and 49 have genital HSV-2 infection in the United States; however, over 90 percent are not even aware that they are infected by this disease. People are not aware of the contraction of herpes for so many reasons (check the section on Signs and Symptoms to read more).

Any individual who is fully sexually active can be infected with genital herpes. According to a recent result of the nationally representative study, genital herpes infection is usual in the United States. Across the nation, 45 million individuals whose ages are 12 and older than 12, or even one out of five of the entire adolescent as well as the adult population, have contracted HSV-2.

The HSV-2 infection is more usual and found in women (around one out of four women) than can be found in men (just one out of five). This may be as a result of male to female transmission is more effective than the process of female to male transmission. The HSV-2 infection is also more usual in blacks (45 percent) than in whites (17.6 percent). Additionally, the United States is a country common with race and ethnicity, which result into risk markers that connect with other more essential determinants of wellbeing, like healthcare seeking behavior, poverty, living in communities with large prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), illicit drug use, and access to quality health care facility.

From the late 1970s till date, the number of genital herpes infection among Americans (that is, prevalence) has expanded to 30 percent. The prevalence of this infection is expanding most dramatically among white teens that are still young; the prevalence of HSV-2 among whites within the age range of 12 and 19 years old is presently five times higher than it used to be about 20 years ago. Furthermore, young adults within the age range of 20 and 20 are presently twice as prone to have HSV-2.