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Two-thirds of the world's population under 50 have the highly infectious herpes virus that causes cold sores around the mouth, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, in its first estimate of global prevalence of the disease.
More than 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 suffer from the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), usually after catching it in childhood, according to a the WHO study.
That is in addition to 417 million people in the 17-49 age range who have the other form of the disease, HSV-2, which causes genital herpes.
According to TechInsider :
One of the biggest issues is that public-health efforts have focused primarily on preventing HSV-2 infections, the researchers write, not HSV-1 infections. But the latter can actually pose more serious risks than just cold sores.
What's more, according to the new report, is that sexually transmitted HSV-1 is on the rise, especially in the Americas, Europe, and the Western Pacific.
Aside from those cold sores, HSV-1 is the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). And while this brain infection is very rare, it kills more than 50% of those infected if left untreated, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The original WHO study was published on October 28, in the journal Plos One.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @06:11PM
Considering we're up to 9 different known serotypes for the Herpesvirus family yeah, you probably have one of them. Of course releasing such information to the public without any clarification is a little journalistic irresponsibility. But then again what is one small drop of unprofessional journalism in such a raging torrent?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Monday November 02 2015, @06:16PM
To describe the effect to which you refer, I enjoy the expression: "Pissing in a sea of piss."
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @06:22PM
If you are over the age of 20 you have a 90% chance of having it. Chickenpox is one of those families.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dyingtolive on Monday November 02 2015, @07:01PM
Probably higher than that even. 'Chicken-pox parties' were still a thing when I was young, and I'm barely of my 20s.
...Huh, just googled it. Apparently they have a vaccine now. Beats having pox scars. What a time to be alive.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @07:26PM
And the vaccine reduces the chances of shingles compared to natural inoculation.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Monday November 02 2015, @09:04PM
I've had both. No fun. Though I'd take chicken pox over shingles any day. All this means nothing though if I can't eat bacon. These folks are just chock full of good news these days... :)
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Tuesday November 03 2015, @02:52AM
I would double down on the shingles. And when you read that shingles is a version of herpes you do tend to have an "ewwwwww" reaction even though it makes no sense!
My retired mother just got it out of the blue in her eye. (one of the worst places to get it) Constant pain, angry welts, head aches, fatigue and blurred vision.
Lasted over a year with several flare ups. And the pain medication does next to nothing to help because its in the nerves themselves. Also she had just bought new glasses and now has to replace the lenses due to her vision being permanently changed.
Not something you want, not really something you can prevent at this stage.
Sucks all round...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @06:47AM
I was lucky. I went to my Dr. and he knew immediately what it was. And it was on the edge of my eye. I had an emergency appointment for my eyes in 45 minutes. Luckily it did not spread there. And it truly is miserable. I feel for the pain your mother went through.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Monday November 02 2015, @10:56PM
I don't think people normally choose to do it the old fashioned way now that there's a choice. My parents purposefully exposed me to the Chicken Pox via a pox party for the simple reason that it was the lesser of two evils. Chicken pox is a serious health problem, but when you're a child it's much less likely to be fatal than as an adult. Roughly 1% of chicken pox cases are in adults, but adults represent about half of the fatalities.
These days it's not as much of an issue, if you're in the developed world you can probably get the vaccination paid for by somebody else if you can't afford it. Otherwise, you're stuck doing it the old fashioned way.
But, even in the best of cases, you're still looking at a week out of school and some very uncomfortable scratching everywhere.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @07:12AM
Vaccines are not something that is popular these days. There are still plenty of people that will have pox parties because they are afraid of autism or something.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Wednesday November 04 2015, @03:56AM
Sort of. You are right that people are still doing it and that it's common enough to cause problems, but the vast majority of parents do the right thing. Unfortunately, it takes more than the vast majority, it takes damn near all of them to get herd immunity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2015, @07:31PM
Also CMV:
58.9% of individuals aged 6 and older are infected with CMV while 90.8% of individuals aged 80 and older are positive for HCMV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_cytomegalovirus [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jdavidb on Monday November 02 2015, @07:02PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AnonymousCowardNoMore on Monday November 02 2015, @08:12PM
So if say we're up to hundreds of cancers, you probably have a whole bunch of them? Tip: You cannot deduce how common something is from how many variations there are.
Herpes is known to be very common but you have surely noticed how the general public assume there's something seriously wrong with whoever has it. Pointing out how wrong they are is a good thing.
P.S.: The herpes virus family covers a whole bunch of diseases which are not under discussion here. Serotypes of H. simplex are not the same thing as members of the family.