Lesbians commonly afflicted by Herpes

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are common among women who have sex with other women, though most are unaware of their infection, according to new data.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are common among women who have sex with other women, though most are unaware of their infection, according to a new study. Nearly half the women (46 percent) who participated in the study were positive for HSV-1, which is the usual cause of “cold sores,” the report indicates, and 7.9 percent were positive for HSV-2, which causes genital infections. The study is the first to report on HSV prevalence in this group specifically, Dr. Jeanne M. Marrazzo from Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, Washington told Reuters Health. Marrazzo and colleagues obtained medical and sexual histories from 392 women (including both members of 71 couples) who reported sex with another woman within the preceding year, and tested their blood for HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies. Most of the women (80 percent) reported having had sex with a man at some time, and 28 percent had sex with a man in the previous year. Among 257 women who self-identified as lesbian, the corresponding figures were 73 percent and 8.6 percent. “This means that routine acquisition of chronic viral sexually transmitted diseases, like herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), HIV, and hepatitis B, can occur at the same rate as in strictly heterosexual women,” Marrazzo said. She says health care providers should keep this in mind. “Providers should really assume nothing when a woman says ‘I’m a lesbian’ — at least in terms of prior viral sexually transmitted disease acquisition — until a more complete sexual history is taken.” Virtually all women reported giving and receiving oral-vaginal and digital-vaginal sex with female partners during the past year, the authors report in the medical journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases, while 34 percent reported oral-anal and 63 percent reported digital-anal sex. Most women did not experience herpes symptoms. Only 9 of 31 HSV-2-positive subjects reported a history of genital herpes, and only 30 percent of HSV-1-positive women reported a history of cold sores. The likelihood of having HSV-2 seropositivity was linked to having a male sex partner with genital herpes. On the other hand, “Our data indicated that risk of HSV-1 seropositivity was directly related to number of prior female sex partners,” Marrazzo explained. “This suggests, but does not prove, that lesbians might be at increased risk for sexual acquisition of HSV-1 from their female partners, likely through oral sex,” she said. (Source: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Reuters Health, Dec 2003.)