GOTHENBURG, Sweden, April 12 (UPI) -- Just four out of 10 patients with genital herpes treated in sexual health clinics in Sweden may actually know that they had the virus, a researcher says.
In her thesis Matilda Berntsson, a specialist in skin and sexually transmitted infections at the Frolunda Specialist Hospital's skin clinic and researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy, studied patients with genital herpes type 2 among patients using sexual health clinics in Gothenburg.
The study involved 1,014 patients, male and female, who were tested for herpes simplex virus type 2. The presence of antibodies in the blood shows that a person is infected with the virus, Berntsson says.
The study found more than one in five women and one in 10 men were infected with genital herpes type 2, but only four out of 10 patients with herpes type 2 antibodies actually knew that they were infected.
However, one-third of the infected patients who did not know that they were infected reported typical symptoms of recurring genital blisters and sores at a follow-up visit.
"The study reinforces our perception that genital herpes is common and that most people carrying it are unaware that they have it," Berntsson says in a statement. "Non-specific recurring genital symptoms could be undiagnosed herpes, which can be detected with a simple test at the doctor's."
