Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications Commons^™

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Antibodies: High Prevalence In Monogamous Women In Costa Rica, Mark W. Oberle, Luis Rosero-Bixby, Francis K. Lee, Maria Sanchez-Braverman, A J. Nahmias, Mary Guinan

Public Health Faculty Publications

We studied the prevalence of antibody to Herpes simplex virus types I and 2 (HSV-I and HSV-2) in 766 randomly selected Costa Rican women 25-59 years of age in a national household survey in 1984-1985. Overall, 97.1% were seropositive for HSV-l and 39.4% for HSV -2. Only 1.1% of HSV -2 seropositive women gave a history of symptomatic genital herpes. HSV-2 virus antibody increased with age and with the number of lifetime sexual partners. HSV -2 seroprevalence among women who reported only 1 lifetime sexual partner was almost twice as high as the prevalence among women who denied sexual experience …