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The standard wisdom regarding carriers of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) holds that 75 percent to 90 percent may never develop genital lesions and that, although asymptomatic carriers can shed virus, they are generally less infectious than people with symptomatic infections. Results from this detailed virologic study of 53 asymptomatic seropositive people (42 women and 11 men) challenge these assumptions.
Subjects collected daily genital swabs for 3 months (evaluated by viral culture) and kept detailed diaries of genital tract symptoms. A group of 44 men and 46 women with known symptomatic HSV-2 infection served as controls. After intensive educational sessions on the signs and symptoms of genital herpes, 33 of the 53 theoretically asym…