Time Trends in First-Episode Genital Herpes Simplex Virus Infections in an Urban Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic

We examined trends in the etiology of first-episode genital herpes diagnoses over time in a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic population. Methods Using an electronic database, we identified persons diagnosed as having first-episode genital herpes at Public Health – Seattle & King County STD Clinic from 1993 to 2014 and compared risk factors for genital HSV-1 versus herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection. Results Of 52,030 patients with genital ulcers, 3065 (6.15%) had first-episode genital herpes infection: 1022 (33.3%) with HSV-1 and 2043 (67.7%) with HSV-2. Overall, 1154 (37.7%) were women, the median age was 28 years (interquartile range, 24–36 years), 1875 (61.2%) patients were white, and 353 (11.5%) were MSM. The number of patients diagnosed as having first-episode genital HSV-2 declined on average by 5.5 persons per year, from 208 in 1993 to 35 in 2014 (change of −5.6 per year; 95% confidence interval [CI], −6.9 to −4.1), whereas HSV-1 diagnoses remained stable at approximately 50 per year (change of 0.2; 95% CI, −0.4 to 0.9). In a multivariate model, persons diagnosed as having first-episode genital HSV-1 rather than genital HSV-2 infection were more likely to be younger (age
Source: Sexually Transmitted Diseases - Category: Sexual Medicine Tags: Original Studies Source Type: research