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What Romney must tell conservatives
Mitt Romney's next chance to try to persuade conservatives he's one of them comes today at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. But given that Romney hasn't won over conservatives after years on the national stage, it may be too late. Video
U.S. herpes rates remain high: CDC
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.
Black women had the highest rate of infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice likely as men to be infected, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 21 percent of women were infected with genital herpes, compared to only 11.5 percent of men, while 39 percent of blacks were infected compared to about 12 percent for whites, the CDC said.
There is no cure for genital herpes, or herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which can cause recurrent and painful genital sores and also increases the likelihood of acquiring and transmitting the AIDS virus. It is related to herpes simplex virus 1, or oral herpes, which causes cold sores.
Several drugs are available to treat herpes symptoms and outbreaks, including acyclovir, which is available generically or under the Zovirax brand name, and valacyclovir, known generically as Valtrex -- both made by GlaxoSmithKline PLC. Ganciclovir, sold as Zirgan, is made by privately-held Sirion Therapeutics, Inc.
The CDC estimates that more than 80 percent of people with genital herpes do not know they are infected.
"The message is herpes is quite common. The symptoms can be often very innocuous," Dr. John Douglas of the CDC said in a teleconference.
"Because herpes is so prevalent it becomes ... a really important reason to use condoms on a consistent and correct basis with all of your partners," Douglas said.
Douglas said the increased rate of infection in blacks women is not due to increased risk behavior.
"As with other STDs, biological factors may make women more susceptible to HSV-2 infection.
"Additionally, racial disparities in HSV-2 infection are likely perpetuated because of the higher prevalence of infection within African-American communities, placing African-Americans at greater risk of being exposed to herpes with any given sexual encounter," the CDC said in a statement.
The CDC estimates that there are 19 million new sexually transmitted disease infections every year in the United States, costing the health care system about $16 billion annually.
(Editing by Paul Simao)
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“Douglas said the increased rate of infection in blacks women is not due to increased risk behavior.”
Let me help out, free of charge. It should be:
“According to Douglas, the higher infection rate among Black women is not due to riskier behavior by them.”
The sentence after that one doesn’t even have the second quotation mark.
They may be more errors up there, but I think I’ve done my part.
Who are they turning out in the colleges these days, and why?
This is one of the most correct articles that I have read, so quit complaining! Texting and just passing to the next grade is mostly responsible for this stuff. And depending on Spell Check instead of real editors.
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