Herpes and HIV

Filed in archive Sexual Health on February 22, 2007

We here so much about unsafe sex these days. Makes you wonder if there's an such thing as safe sex left. Despite all the ads and publicity, the urging to be careful and to use condoms, people still end up infected with STDs (sexually transmitted diseases.) HIV is becoming more wide spread.

The United States Statistics Summary from Avert says:

AIDS was first identified in the USA in 1981. The epidemic has now spread to every part of the USA and to all sectors of society.

It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

Other countries have similar statistics, and the problem is growing

A news article from tells of one small breakthrough for women infected with both HIV and genital herpes:CBC News:

Researchers tested 140 women in Burkina Faso who had both infections. More than 100 received a medication, valacyclovir, to treat herpes and the rest took placebo pills.

"The results of the trial are striking," said the study's lead author, Dr. Nicolas Nagot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

"They show that valacyclovir significantly reduces the frequency and quantity of HIV detectable in genital secretions and, in addition, reduces the quantity of HIV in the [blood]."