What are the statistics for Herpes 2 (Genital Herpes)?
The prevalence of Genital Herpes within the United States has increased drastically over the past several decades. In fact, the number of Americans infected with HSV-2 increased by 30 percent between the 1970’s and 1990’s. To this day, Genital Herpes remains common in the United States – a recent study by the CDC estimated that over 45 million people are infected with the virus. In simpler terms, approximately one out of every five teenagers and adults are currently infected with HSV-2 (the virus that causes Genital Herpes). The national average of 1 in 5 is not evenly split between women and men. Statistics released by the CDC show that women are more prone to infection than men (approximately one out of every four women are infected with HSV-2, while about one out of eight men are infected). Although the reason behind this higher rate of infection is debatable, it may be due to male-to-female transmission being more likely than female-to-male transmission.
