One in four New Yorkers has genital herpes

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

NEW YORK (AFP) — One in four adults living in New York City has the virus that causes genital herpes, and among African-Americans the rate is almost 50 percent, official statistics show.

The sexually transmitted herpes simplex virus Type 2 is more prevalent in New York City, at 26 percent, than nationally, where 19 percent of adults, roughly one in five, are infected.

Far more women than men have the virus, 36 percent compared to 19, in the city mythologized in the television-turned-movie megahit "Sex in the City."

The study by New York City Department of Health also reveals that herpes is far more common among African-Americans -- 49 percent -- than whites (14 percent).

Most people infected with HSV-2 present no symptoms, but those that do...