TUESDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), the primary cause of genital herpes, has significantly declined since the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United States, especially among teenagers, according to a study in the Aug. 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Fujie Xu, M.D., Ph.D., of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues compared data on 9,165 people aged 14 to 49 from the 1988-1994 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys with data on 11,508 people from the 1999-2004 survey.
The researchers found that overall age-adjusted HSV-2 seroprevalence decreased from 21 percent in 1988-1994 to 17 percent in 1999-2004, with especially significant decreases seen in those aged 14 to 19. The investigators also found that the seroprevalence of HSV-1 decreased from 62 percent in 1988-1994 to 57.7 percent in 1999-2004.
"The reasons that HSV-2 seroprevalence significantly decreased even after accounting for changes in measured sexual behaviors may include a combination of unmeasured factors, such as careful partner selection, condom use, and/or choosing oral sex over vaginal sex," the authors write. "Recent research into the structure of sexual networks indicates that in adolescents, relative low levels of behavioral change can radically limit the spread of sexually transmitted infections."
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