2020: The Year of Herpes

Sent by a medical contributor

One in three NZ adults has the virus that causes genital herpes

Genital herpes: Genital herpes is a common sexually transmitted disease caused by the virus called herpes simplex (HSV), which is spread through skin contact during vaginal, anal or oral sex.

Herpes is spread by skin-to-skin contact with someone who carries the virus. That means you can get herpes by touching or kissing someone who has the virus. Most people don’t know they have herpes, but they  pass it on even when there are no visible sores on their skin.

There is no cure for genital herpes, but the symptoms can be controlled using antiviral medicines.

There are two types of herpes simplex virus. There’s no known cure for the virus.

[HSV-1] – this is the virus that most commonly causes cold sores on the lips or face.

• About 80% of ANZ adults carry HSV-1

[HSV-2] – this is the virus responsible for most genital herpes and is most commonly passed on through sexual contact.

• As many as one in three adults in New Zealand has the HSV-2 virus that causes genital herpes.

At least 80% of those with herpes are unaware they have it

“According to the A.H.M.F. (Australian Herpes Management Forum) genital herpes is highly under-diagnosed. Of all the people with the genital herpes simplex virus infection, only 1 in 5 are diagnosed and up to 80% of cases of genital herpes are not recognized as such by clinicians. Often the symptoms are so subtle that they are dismissed or the symptoms which do occur are usually misdiagnosed as being something other than the virus.”

The main treatment for severe genital herpes, an antiviral drug, will help to reduce the number of outbreaks you may have, and speed up the healing process, but it will not cure the virus.

Genital herpes reoccurs at different stages for different people. Some people may have several attacks per year while some will not have any symptoms for many years.

Herpes infections are more common in women than in men. While male-to-female transmission is potentially more effective in the transmission of genital herpes than female-to-male.

In the United States [and most probably in Australia and NZ,] the largest increase of genital herpes has been among young White teenagers.

Genital herpes infections are now 5 times more common in 12 to 19 year old White adolescents in the US.

Genital herpes is twice as common among young adults ages 20 to 29 than it was 20 years ago.

In the 1990s, about 1 in 5 people in the United States over the age of 12 (approximately 45 million individuals) were infected with genital herpes virus [HSV-2.] Since then, the number of Americans with the genital herpes infection has increased by 30%. The same trends most probably apply to Australia and NZ.

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
https://www.health.govt.nz/
https://www.herpes.org.nz/

Syphilis cases in New Zealand double in two years

Foreword: Escaped murder in the hands of police, but are seriously ill? Suffering from cholesterol increase, uric acid increase, thyroid disease, testicular and kidney cancer, pregnancy induced hypertension, diabetes [and associated eye diseases,] birth weight decrease, or even worse? You may have been poisoned by NZ Defence Force!

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Syphilis can increase the risk of HIV infection

Syphilis cases in New Zealand have doubled in two years with 470 cases reported last year, according to reports.

Auckland and Wellington regions reported the most cases of potentially deadly infection, with males aged 20 to 39-years accounting for the bulk of the cases.

“Gay or bisexual men made up 70 per cent of cases, in which 21 per cent were also HIV positive.”

[Caution: In our experience, negative statistics released by NZ government are heavily doctored to protect the tourist industry. See blog content for road fatality stats. Ed.]

One in three people in New Zealand get STIs, according to Family Planning national medical advisor Dr Christine Roke in 2012, and many would not even realize it.

Links to MSM reports:

• Young Kiwis are contracting STIs
  
• New Zealand’s worst regions for STIs
  
• Dating apps blamed for spike in syphilis
  
• Luck of the Irish has sex-disease downside

Highly Doctored Official Stats:

• More than 28,000 people, including 465 children aged between 10 and 14-years-old, were diagnosed with chlamydia in New Zealand in a single year
• There were also 3,038 positive tests for gonorrhoea in 2014 including 74 children aged 10-14 (NO updates have been made available since!)

New Zealand’s worst regions for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

Source:  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/76088358/New-Zealands-worst-regions-for-STIs [Additional charts posted at the link.]

Spot the TRUTH [Sent by  a reader]

• Women who sleep with 10 or more partners risk 90 percent chance of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection (STI) —Independent experts
• New Zealand women are the most promiscuous in the world, with 20.3 sexual partners on average, with the world average being 7.3 —condom-maker Durex survey

External links:

• How to talk about sexually transmitted diseases
  
• Parents urged to talk about contraception after children diagnosed with chlamydia in South Canterbury
  
• Gonorrhea may soon be untreatable, Britain’s chief medical officer warns

Links to the Blog posts:

• Syphilis infections jump by 68 percent in Hobbit Land [Posted in 2012, so do your own maths about the integrity of govt. stats!]
• Only third of Kiwi women have chlamydia by age 38 
• Record number of NZers diagnosed with HIV