NPR Examines CDC Report On Genital Herpes, Black Community

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 17 Mar 2010 - 4:00 PDT


NPR's "All Things Considered" on Friday examined a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis showing that roughly 16% of U.S. residents ages 14 through 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the nation's most common sexually transmitted infections. The analysis also showed that 48% of black women between 14 and 49 are infected with the virus, and that blacks have a 39% infection rate, compared with 12% among whites. In addition, 21% of U.S. women are infected with genital herpes, compared with 11% of men.

The segment featured comments from Hilda Hutcherson, a Columbia University obstetrics and gynecology professor, who suggested that an increased incidence of the virus across the years may have contributed to higher rates among blacks. "Once the virus is within your community, it makes it much more easily transmitted and for those numbers to increase for African-American women," Hutcherson said. She added that "young women often don't protect themselves in the way that they should protect themselves."

To combat the problem, Hutcherson recommends breaking the cycle by "educating younger people," which may help "overall incidents and prevalence decrease" across time (Norris, "All Things Considered," NPR, 3/12).

The CDC says that biological factors, not behavioral patterns, likely are responsible for the variations in infection rates between genders and races (Women's Health Policy Report, 3/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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