Infections are transmitted through contact with HSV in herpes lesions, mucosal surfaces, genital secretions, or oral secretions. The age-adjusted percentage of persons in the United States infected with HSV-2 decreased from 18.0% in 1999–2000 to 12.1% in 2015-2016. 2 A previous analysis found that these disparities, exist even among persons with similar numbers of lifetime sexual partners. Most infected persons may be unaware of their infection in the United States, an estimated 87.4% of 14 to 49 year olds infected with HSV-2 have never received a clinical diagnosis. 5 HSV-2 infection is more common among non-Hispanic blacks (34.6%) than among non-Hispanic whites (8.1%). 2 This is possibly because genital infection is more easily transmitted from men to women than from women to men during penile-vaginal sex. HSV-2 infection is more common among women than among men the percentages of those infected during 2015-2016 were 15.9% versus 8.2% respectively, among 14 to 49 year olds. 3 Oral HSV-1 infection is typically acquired in childhood because the prevalence of oral HSV-1 infection has declined in recent decades, people may have become more susceptible to contracting a genital herpes infection from HSV-1.

2 However, the prevalence of genital herpes infection is higher than that because an increasing number of genital herpes infections are caused by HSV-1. 1 Nationwide, 11.9 % of persons aged 14 to 49 years have HSV-2 infection (12.1% when adjusted for age).

CDC estimated that there were 572,000 new genital herpes infections in the United States in a single year. Genital herpes infection is common in the United States. Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2).

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