“Viruses of love ” infect millions with disease and despair Susan, 29, a Ph.D. in English literature from Harvard, knew her
boyfriend had a herpes infection and consulted her gynecologist about
the safety of having intercourse. The doctor reassured her that herpes
was only contagious if her partner had festering sores. Susan slept
with her friend, who had no obvious signs, and within a week got
herpes. Don, 47, an engineer, succumbed to the temptation of a local lady while
on a job in Asia and woke one morning to find a cluster of ugly red
sores on his penis. Subsequently divorced, he acquired a new lover and
learned that he had given herpes to her. Says he: “I regard myself as a
carrier of an invisible, incurable disease. I have a guilt trip that
won't quit.” Such is the predicament—indeed, the pathos—of herpes, one of the most
common venereal diseases in the U.S. today, possibly even more
widespread than gonorrhea. This year up to half a million more
Americans will develop the telltale genital blisters of herpes, adding
to the 5 million to 14 million who already have the disease. When they
seek medical help, they will often be given incorrect information or
false hopes for cures. Most will suffer shame, guilt and even
depression, and a few will become suicidal over what they feel is the
“new leprosy.” Herpes, from the Greek “to creep,” has been around for ages: the Roman
Emperor Tiberius vainly tried to stamp it, or something like it, out by
banning kissing. With the sexual revolution of the 1960s, herpes broke out of its
confines as a venereal disease that was thought to
afflict only the “licentious” lower classes. Suddenly, “viruses of
love” infected entire college dormitories and rode the waves of rising
divorce and crumbling monogamy. There are no precise figures: herpes is not reportable and few victims
like to talk about it. But Dr. Paul Wiesner, director of the VD
division at Atlanta's Center for Disease Control, estimates that as
many as 30% of the sexually
active U.S. population have been exposed to genital herpes, while not in
all cases developing its symptoms. Doctors were talking of only 5% less
than a decade ago. The viruses after which the disease is named come in some 70 varieties,
most of them noninfectious to humans. Those harmful to people cause
birth defects, chicken pox and shingles, and mononucleosis . The ones implicated in venereal disease are herpes
simplex types 1 and 2. The first type triggers fever blisters, or cold
sores, around the mouth: it is also an agent in various eye ailments
that can, if untreated, lead to blindness. The second usually shows up
in the genital area of both sexes, and sometimes on the thighs and
buttocks. Both types can be transmitted between mouth and genitals by
oral sex.
