October 13 is National Herpes Awareness Day, an opportunity to raise awareness around the causes, risks, and treatment of different types of herpes infections, particularly genital herpes. Perhaps more importantly, it’s a chance to debunk myths around the disease, start conversations about what it really means to have a genital herpes infection and, hopefully, destroy the stigma around the disease that impacts nearly 16% of women between the ages of 14 and 49.
National Herpes Awareness Day is sponsored by FemiClear, a brand that has launched a new over-the-counter genital herpes symptom relief product that has been shown to kill 99.9% of the Herpes Simplex I and II viruses in laboratory tests.* In fact, in a test of women experiencing a genital herpes outbreak, >90% said that they experienced less severe outbreak symptoms.**
*Independent accredited laboratory test (non-human/non-animal) measured the antiviral activity of FemiClear using a suspension time-kill procedure against Herpes.
**As self-reported in a comprehensive IRB approved study of 50 women diagnosed and actively experiencing a genital herpes outbreak. These women received modest compensation. Not a cure for herpes or a replacement for prescription antiviral medication. Individual results may vary. Data on file. See FemiClear.com.
History of National Herpes Awareness Day
Herpes has been one of the most misunderstood (and mistreated) ailments in history. It has been around for millions of years and affected nearly every species of human along the evolutionary scale. In fact, in 2017, scientists discovered the ancient primate believed to have been herpes patient zero. Needless to say, we hominids have been dealing with the itching, burning, tingling pain of herpes for millennia.
However, the stigma around herpes is relatively new. Throughout most of modern medical history (ie. the 20th century) the stigma of herpes was relatively low. Yes, it was a sexually transmitted infection, but it was also transmitted through other forms of contact and it wasn’t considered a discrete type of infection until the 1960s.
By the 1980s, herpes, particularly Herpes Simplex II, the virus known to cause most genital cases, became a very real source of public shame and embarrassment. Time Magazine labeled it “the new sexual leprosy” bringing with it the expected stigma and turning it into a boogeyman on the level of other sexually transmitted diseases.
The fact is, having herpes shouldn’t dramatically change a person’s self-worth and sexual health. Herpes Awareness Day was created to start a conversation around the condition and encourage people to seek treatment for the symptoms (there’s currently no cure) and promote healthy, reasonable discourse about the virus’ actual impact on people’s lives. It’s an important conversation that is long overdue and the folks at FemiClear are taking the lead as they try to help women living with genital herpes get their lives back.
