herpes symptoms : It Starts With a Kiss

A 'Simplex' Twist of Fate

Multiple Choice:

A) You have herpes and wish you didn't, or
B) You don't have it and never want to get it.

This pamphlet is for both kinds of people.

Because despite the emergence of AIDS as the most-feared sexual disease in history, the painful genital blisters and sores of herpes is still a problem for all kinds of people.

The disease has even been called the "New Scarlet Letter," after the 19th-Century Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.

That's because the physical and psychological discomfort it causes can place victims in a self-imposed exile as dramatic as that inflicted upon the adulteress heroine of the novel.

But it's a problem that can be prevented (or improved, if you've already got it) by the simplest tool that we know of — information.

So lend us your ears and a little of your time and we'll bring you up to date on what's known today about having — or avoiding — herpes.

That way, if you've got it, you can make the best of an unpleasant situation.

And if you don't have it, maybe you'll never have to get it.


Old 'Cures,' New Ills

Two thousand years ago, the Roman emperor Tiberius banned kissing to stop the spread of a disease that caused blistering lip sores. Researchers today think the disease was a form of herpes simplex virus (HSV).

The ban didn't work. Couples kept on kissing, and herpes kept on herpe-ing, ban or no ban.

Since then, people and governments have tried everything they could think of to stop herpes. But it's still with us today-bigger and meaner than ever.

How big? 30-50 million Americans have genital herpes, according to a recent estimate.

And the numbers are growing: As many as 500,000 new cases are reported every year, with no end in sight.

No wonder herpes conjures up so much confusion and dread. And while the disease itself still can't be cured, the confusion and dread it inspires can and should be.

Danielle Hain