Science in the Triangle

There’s a virus that has infected one out of six Americans between the ages of 14 and 49. Closely related to the virus that causes chicken pox, this virus challenges the traditional way we think about infection and disease.

No treatment can eliminate the virus, though it can help reduce symptoms. Even without treatment the body’s immune system gets better at fighting and controlling the virus’ effects, though it too, can never eliminate the virus.

The virus can cause symptoms that range from irritating to agonizing. It rarely causes long-term harm to the body, but its psychological consequences can be devastating. Often, people who have the virus don’t even know that they are infected.

Scientists even hesitate to use the word “disease” with the virus, preferring the term “infection,” since diseases imply a distinct medical problem, with common signs, symptoms, and course of infection, all of which can be very different from person to person.

Despite all of this, the virus has been conspicuously absent from news reports, and people are often loath to talk about it.

The virus is herpes-simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), sometimes referred to simply as “herpes.” It is transmitted from person to person via sexual contact.

The latest statistics about herpes infection rates were released earlier in March by the 2010 CDC Sexually Transmitted Disease Conference. The American Social Health Association, a co-sponsor of the conference, is located in Research Triangle Park, and has been dealing with sexually transmitted diseases (or, to use the World Health Organization’s preferred term, sexually transmitted infections), since 1914.

The data about herpes come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005-2008. The same study found that rates of herpes have roughly stabilized over the past decade. Herpes is especially high in women (21 percent), and black Americans (39 percent). Both biological (skin provides an effective barrier against the virus, and men have more of it) and social/economic reasons (black Americans are less likely to have good access to testing and treatment than white Americans) contribute to these disparities.

I worked at ASHA from 2000 to 2003 on the (now defunct) National Sexually Transmitted Disease and AIDS Hotlines. This was when automated phone trees were relatively rare, and before many people were comfortable using the Internet to gather information. The hotlines took thousands of calls a day and were open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The hotlines helped a lot of people, many of whom had been recently diagnosed with herpes. People know little about herpes or any other sexually transmitted infections. In the case of herpes, stigma and rumor make this very common, biologically mild virus, into something that is rare and deadly. Callers were in frequently in tears or spoke of suicide. I must have heard some variation of “no one will ever love me again” hundreds of times in my time on the hotlines.

Accurate information helped. Callers often in a state of panic when they are first diagnosed, often forgot or missed information from their health-care providers. At the hotlines we could answer people’s questions, and correct information about symptoms, transmission, and treatment at their convenience.

But I think it was just having an empathetic, nonjudgmental person who would listen to them that helped callers the most. In just a ten to 15-minute call, a person could often make the first steps toward coping with their infection.

Although the Internet has allowed many people to find information easily and anonymously, we’ve lost something without the human contact that a live hotline can provide.

So if you have been newly diagnosed with herpes, try to find that support from someone you trust. If you know someone who has, try to provide it.

ASHA continues to operate call centers on a smaller scale, advocate for greater awareness of sexually transmitted infections, and conduct research about STIs, and their consequences.

Correction: I previously wrote that the ASHA hotline is defunct. Although the hotline has lost federal funding, it continues to operate from private donations. The current hotline number is 919-361-8488 and provides information about STI testing, prevention, and treatment.