Herpes data shows sex risky in NY

Published: 8:39PM Tuesday June 10, 2008 Source: Reuters

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Sex in the city can be risky, New York health officials say, after a new study found more than a quarter of the Big Apple's adult residents are infected with the herpes virus.
  
The results have prompted a new push by health workers to encourage safe sex, with free condoms on offer, CBS reports.
  
The study, by the New York Health Department, found 26% of city residents have the virus that causes genital herpes, an incurable sexually-transmitted infection that can cause painful genital sores and can double a person's risk for HIV.
  
The national figure stands at 19%, the CBS report said.
  
Infection rates in New York were higher in women than men (36% compared with 19%) and were also higher in the black population (49% to 14% in the white population).
 
"We advise New Yorkers to protect themselves and others. Using condoms consistently will help you avoid getting or spreading genital herpes," said Dr Julia Schillinger, Director of Surveillance for the Health Department's Bureau of STD Prevention and Control and lead author of the study.
  
Herpes is not the only STD above the national rate in New York City.
  
Rates of Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and infectious syphilis were also higher than the national rate, the CBS report said.

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