AEGiS-PRn: Herpes: The Little Secret Shared By Millions

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Herpes: The Little Secret Shared By Millions

PRNewswire - February 24, 2004

PALM DESERT, Calif., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- "Jennifer" is 33, attractive, and popular. Her friends and family ask her why she has not dated in so long, and she seems to shun the men they want to introduce to her. "Ronald" is 49, kind, good-hearted, not GQ, but attractive enough in his own right. His friends wonder why he does not have a significant other. "Susan" is a divorced mother of three grown kids. She has plenty of time to spare, but has not developed a life during her empty nest years. "Taylor" is a fresh-faced 18-year-old college freshman. She seems painfully shy and refuses to date. She studies all the time while her friends enjoy active social lives. None of these people have told their "secret" - they have genital herpes.

"I've had herpes for so long that it really doesn't bother me physically any more," Jennifer says. "But I'm really embarrassed to tell anyone else, even my best friend. And I'm afraid of what a guy would say if we started dating and then I had to tell him. I'd just as soon not deal with it." And that's the biggest paradox about having the herpes virus. It's not medically very serious, and yet it can have devastating emotional and social effects.

In an age when we make heroes out of celebrities who contract the HIV and Hepatitis-C viruses, herpes remains the "stigma" virus, often belittled and joked about in the media.

Here are some non-medical facts about herpes. For millions of people, they are the harsh reality:

-- Genital herpes is carried by up to 25% of all Americans (that's 50 million people). Many people have not told their family or closest friends.

-- Herpes is rarely harmful but can have devastating emotional repercussions.

-- Most people who have genital herpes did not know that the person who gave it to them had herpes. Often, that person did not know either, at the time of transmission.

-- The standard "STD screens" available at clinics everywhere do not, as a standard, include testing for herpes.

-- Many people living with herpes and wanting to be honest about it have chosen not to date, period - some have been single for many years.

-- Others living with herpes have chosen simply to ignore it, and not tell their partners for fear of ridicule and/or rejection.

-- Others choose to believe that "they are not contagious unless they are having a herpes outbreak" which is unfortunately not true due to asymptomatic shedding.

Herpes is alive and well in the world and may be on the increase, for some of the above-stated reasons.

"The Internet has been a godsend for people living with herpes," says Anthony Matthews of Antopia Inc. "They have finally been able to meet each other, form support and social communities, and get back out there."

According to Alexa.com, Antopia's "Meet People with Herpes" (http://www.MPwH.net), with 40,000 members, is the busiest herpes-related website on the Internet. Matthews is clear on his mission. "We're not trying to save the world," he says. "We're not talking anything fatal here. We're just trying to create resources for people who have been inhibited in their lives, to help them move on. Or at least, to give them hope that things can get better, and Antopia is the way for that to happen."

For more information, please visit Antopia's support and information website at http://www.GotHerpes.com, or their dating website at http://www.MPwH.net, or call 1-877-3-HERPES.

For Further Information contact:

Jodi - Phone: (760) 333-7410

Email: press@antopia.com

SOURCE Antopia Inc.

Web Site: http://www.GotHerpes.com

http://www.MPwH.net

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