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Genital Herpes Could Lead to HIV, but Treating Herpes Doesn’t Reduce HIV Risk
More than 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with genital herpes each year, and the largest increase is occurring in young teens.
Genital herpes is an STD (sexually transmitted disease) caused mostly by HSV-2. It is a contagious viral infection affecting primarily the genitals of men and women. Genital herpes is characterized by recurrent clusters of vesicles and lesions at the genital areas or below the waist.
Researchers tracked more than 3,000 men and women infected with herpes in Africa, Peru and the United States. Roughly half were treated with aciclovir, an antiviral that stops herpes ulcers.
After a year and a half, the scientists found that 75 people out of the 1,581 who had been receiving aciclovir were later infected with HIV. Of the 1,591 people who received placebo pills, 64 contracted HIV.
In the trial, researchers chose participants who had herpes and who faced similar risks of getting AIDS. The study also questioned the participants during monthly visits about risky sexual behaviour with their recent partners.
The findings were published Friday in the medical journal the Lancet.
"It's a significant, disappointing finding," Francis Ndowa, co-ordinator of the sexually transmitted infections control team at the World Health Organization, said in an interview.
A small study in Tanzania last year also suggested that treating herpes didn't help reducing HIV susceptibility.
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