Today Is National Herpes Awareness Day (In Australia) - Help Shed Light On The Contagious Virus

Australia – When it comes to public awareness, herpes has a pretty low profile. Even among those who have genital herpes, almost 90 percent aren’t aware of their own infection. One tried and tested way to bring attention to a health condition is to create an awareness day (or if you’re lucky, a whole month). While Herpes Awareness Day hasn’t made it on to the calendar of health observances in the U.S (yet), it has been an annual event in Australia since 2004. According to Australian Herpes Management Forum (AHMF), an organization dedicated to improving the awareness, understanding, management and control of herpes virus infections in Australia, the purpose of National Herpes Awareness Day is “to raise awareness of herpesviruses within the Australian community, to provide facts, to break down myths and to encourage people to visit their doctor or health care provider to get screened.” The day of observance is October 13th each year.

Wow. You see the numbers. 90% of people who have the Herpes virus don’t even know they’re infected. As I search the Google: Two-thirds of the world population has herpes. More than 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 — about 67 percent of the global population — are infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), according to a report from the World Health Organization. Those are outrageous stats that can’t go unnoticed.

Herpes last forever, but your lack of awareness of the virus doesn’t have to. Get tested. Spread the word. Tag someone to help spread awareness, and maybe one day we’ll find a cure for this contagious virus.