Students at UW-Madison made national headlines last week when health officials reported cold sores accounted for 78 percent of genital herpes infections in UW-Madison students in 2001.
“People don’t realize if they have cold sores they can infect someone with genital herpes when having oral sex,” UW-Madison University Health Services epidemiologist Craig Roberts said.
Health officials think this connection between the two types of herpes may be due to the increasing popularity of oral sex.
“I think a lot of students are engaging in oral sex instead of vaginal or anal intercourse because they think it’s not as risky,” Campus Community Partnerships manager Danya Alder said. “But any time there’s an exchange of bodily fluids, you can get an STI [sexually-transmitted infection].”
Although the study was done at UW, Paula Cody, event coordinator of Sex Out Loud, said she thinks it will inspire other schools to conduct similar research.
“I just think it will open a lot of eyes,” Cody said. “The study doesn’t portray us as a skanky school.”
The link between Herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1) and Herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2) comes as a surprise to many students.
“I always thought they were 2 different simplexes,” UW-Madison student Tom Adams said. “Is that true–you can get one from the other?”
Roberts said although HSV-1 infections typically are milder and less infectious, both viruses cause sore, fluid-filled blisters on the mouth or genitals. Blisters do not need to be present to infect someone. People with cold sores can also pass the herpes virus by kissing and sharing drinking glasses or cigarettes.
“People could be shedding the virus in their saliva,” Roberts said. “The virus is transmitted by direct skin-skin contact.”
Although more genital herpes cases were caused by the cold-sore virus, Roberts said STIs on the UW-Madison campus have declined over the past 10 years.
“The overall incidence of herpes has been dropping,” Roberts said. “Genital warts are the most common on campus and after that, chlamydia.”
Genital warts are also transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact. Alder said people should use protection, such as condoms or dental dams, when performing oral sex. She said non-microwavable saran-wrap is another form of protection.
But using protection for oral sex is not a widely accepted practice, socially or sexually, some UW-Madison students said.
“I don’t have any dental dams and I’ve never checked my saran-wrap to see if it’s non-microwavable,” one anonymous student said. “But, man, that would just take all the fun out of it!”
Alder said she saw similar reactions to condom use when the HIV/AIDS virus surfaced in 1982. As public awareness increased, using condoms for sexual intercourse became widely accepted.
“We have to take on that same attitude about oral sex, even though the consequences are less severe,” Alder said. “You need to accept the fact that you can either practice safer sex in all sexual encounters or you run the risk of getting an STI.”
Both Alder and Roberts stressed the importance of knowing the risks involved with every sexual encounter and knowing options for safe sexual activity.
“People can decide not to have sex and they can decide not to have sex that night,” Alder said. “I think once students know the risks involved, they will make wise decisions.”
Roberts concurred.
“We want people to be aware there’s a risk of getting herpes in oral sex, particularly if you have cold sores,” Roberts said. “That’s a bigger priority than encouraging the use of protection.”