Understanding Herpes Simplex Infection: Overview, Risk Factors, And Prevention Measures

Overview of the Herpes Simplex

Write an essay on A virus of the name Herpes Simplex.

A virus of the name Herpes Simplex causes a viral disease named Herpes Simplex. They can infect different parts of the body based on which, the categorizations of the infections are done. If the virus infects the mouth and face, it is known as Oral Herpes. For the genital organs, it is Genital Herpes and for the fingers, it is Herpetic Whitlow. There are also other forms of Herpes as it infects the eye, brain and the newborns. Small ulcers are formed from initial blisters after they break open. There are two different forms of the Herpes Simplex virus that are classified as HSV – 1 (Type – 1) and HSV – 2 (Type – 2) (Schiffer & Corey, 2014). Type 1 is responsible for the oral infections and type 2 is responsible for the genital infections. The present report describes the overview of the Herpes Simplex infection and its various perspectives with a brief discussion of the prevention. 

Globally, the rate of the infection by Herpes Simplex Virus or HSV has been found to be almost 90%. People infected with the virus either develop genital or labial lesions and in most of the cases, the disease goes undiagnosed or it displays no symptoms for its presence. Patients infected with HSV and showing no symptoms are known to possess subclinical HSV. In most of the infections, the disease is transmitted horizontally to the sexual partner of the patient or vertically to a newborn as neonatal HSV. Since the infections stay unnoticed in most of the cases, there occurs a high risk of spreading the disease.
According to WHO (World Health Organization), the infection by HSV is prevalent throughout the world and about 3.7 billion people are infected with the type 1 virus and 417 million people are having the type 2 infection. Type 1 infection constitutes about 67% of the total proportion and infecting mainly the people under the age of 50. Type 2 constitutes about 11% of the infection with the affected population of the age 15 to 49 years. Both these types of infections are lifelong and are extremely contagious ("World Health Organization", 2016).
The social determinant of the HSV infection is most prominent for the type 2 infections as it is most prevalent in the underdeveloped countries and regions where the preventive measures are not appropriately implemented. It is a significant public health problem as the infection spreads through sexual transmission and often lands up in a more severe pathological condition of AIDS. The associated risk factors include increased number of sexual partners, older age, lower levels of education and socioeconomic status and unsafe sex trade (Meque et al., 2014). However, for the type 1 infection, the associated risk factor is a unhygienic lifestyle.  
The risk factor for the HSV infection has been found to start at the age 6 months to 3 years for the type 1 infection. By the time the patient reaches attains adulthood, up to 90% of the patients develops the infection. Genital herpes is the risk associated with the type 2 infection that frequently occurs due to oral-genital sex (Masese et al., 2013). A prior history of a sexually transmitted disease also boosts up the transmission procedure.
Rationale for action
WHO stated that the number of people affected by the HSV infection in Australia in the year 2012 is 521 million males that constitute about 73% and 488 million females constituting about 74%. This is quite an alarming situation in Australia as either of the two types of the infection affects a huge amount of the population. However, the figures are quite relieving when compared to the population of African countries where about 87% of the population is affected by the disease. Genital herpes is often very painful and is linked with morbidity that can even lead to mortality (Johnston & Corey, 2016). Since it is associated with the development of AIDS, therefore, the chances of mortality increase several folds with the development of the disease. Not only the adults but also the infants are susceptible to death with the prevalence of this contagious disease.
There has been a significant increase of HSV infections in the last decade. Long-term consequences were also observed for the disease when they were left untreated. Due to the rise in the rate of infection in the past ten years, there has been a significant increase in the rate of infection of HSV. Genital herpes have been increased drastically as a sexually transmitted infection and it has been found that one out of eight Australians is affected by the disease and among that, 85% of the population are affected by the type 1 disease and 20% is affected by the type 2 HSV (Jones, Raynes-Greenow & Isaacs, 2014).
It has been found between the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander people of Australia that they have lesser access to the therapeutic and preventive interventions for health when compared to the non-indigenous Australians. They do have appropriate facilities of the social determinants like housing, employment and education. Therefore, the rates of the HSV are higher among this population when compared to the non-indigenous population of Australia. The rates of the disease standardized by age are also comparatively higher for the population that needs effective intervention for the prevention. Even if the population represents only 2.5% of the total Australian population, yet the rate of HSV is as high as 18% for HSV when compared to the 12% for the rest of the Australians (Minichiello, Rahman & Hussain, 2013). This statistics is also applicable for the other sexually transmitted diseases for the population and have been found to be higher by four folds when compared to the non-indigenous population.

Rationale for action

Over the years, Australia has successfully managed the infections that are sexually transmitted, not only for HSV but also for the other infections. For strengthening this campaign, the government of Australia has developed a program named ‘Third National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy 2014 – 2017’ that aims at providing effective and safe treatment for the sexually transmitted infections or STI, which includes HSV. This program has caused a significant and rapid reduction in the genital HSV among the Australians and is expected to further reduce the rate in the coming years. Last five years have seen a considerable increase in the rate of STI and it needed immediate intervention. It was more prominent among the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders and therefore, a program was designed that would help to cure the disease among this indigenous population. However, the program adopted respect and cultural safety as the paramount for the prevention of HSV in this remote and rural committee. The program not only aimed at controlling HSV, but it also targeted the underlying risk factors of AIDS and the diagnosis of the other viral diseases like hepatitis infection, which forms a part of the management of HSV. The program provided support by prevention activities, timely treatment and testing for HSV and decreasing the barriers that occur for the testing among the populations that are in priority. HSV in Australia depicts upward trends for most of the priority population and requires immediate intervention and the program focuses to make the population aware of the reproductive and psychosocial consequences of HSV (Sti.health.gov.au, 2016).

The Sexual Health and Family Planning Act of Australia has designed educational policies and programs for eradicating the sexually transmitted diseases like HSV. The policy aims at proving treatment and test for the university students for increasing the awareness of HSV among the population. The Act also determines the direct costs for the entire project and cost of the individual cases have to be identified. The policy of the act provides education to the population that is sexually active, especially among the university students who are aged 16 to 25. Several universities are in association with the act for the successful completion of the program. The act offers a wide range of health and educational promotional activities for raising awareness about HSV. Tests, which are self-administered for HSV is provided with relevant resources and references to the other health agencies if required. Therefore, the act along with its policies aims at leveraging the health of the Australians by providing appropriate preventive measures for Herpes Simplex infection ("Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT - News", 2016).
Conclusion
The present report discussed the hazards of HSV infection and the intervention required for prevention of the disease. The underprivileged population is the most affected with the disease and the health promotion programs should be aimed at these population. The Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia are the most affected group of Australia and the future health policies should aim at providing better health facilities and social determinants for prevention of the infection. However, several programs and policies have been developed in Australia for mitigation of the sexually transmitted diseases, but the complete eradication of the disease is possible only with the healthy habits and lifestyle of the individuals.

References

Australian Social Trends, Jun 2012. (2016). Abs.gov.au. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features10Jun+2012
Department of Health | Third National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy 2014-2017. (2016). Sti.health.gov.au. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from https://www.sti.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-bbvs-sti
Johnston, C., & Corey, L. (2016). Current Concepts for Genital Herpes Simplex Virus Infection: Diagnostics and Pathogenesis of Genital Tract Shedding. Clinical microbiology reviews, 29(1), 149-161.
Jones, C. A., Raynes-Greenow, C., & Isaacs, D. (2014). Population-based surveillance of neonatal herpes simplex virus infection in Australia, 1997–2011. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 59(4), 525-531.
Khandaker, G., Raynes-Greenow, C., Smithers-Sheedy, H., Booy, R., Menzies, R., & Jones, C. (2014). Mortality from Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Infection in Australian Children, 1999-2011 Using National Datasets.Infectious Disorders-Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets-Infectious Disorders), 14(2), 89-92.
Masese, L., Baeten, J. M., Richardson, B. A., Bukusi, E., John-Stewart, G., Jaoko, W., ... & McClelland, R. S. (2013). Incident herpes simplex virus type 2 infection increases the risk of subsequent episodes of bacterial vaginosis.Journal of Infectious Diseases, jit634.
Meque, I., Dubé, K., Feldblum, P. J., Clements, A. C., Zango, A., Cumbe, F., ... & van de Wijgert, J. H. (2014). Prevalence, incidence and determinants of herpes simplex virus type 2 infection among HIV-seronegative women at high-risk of HIV infection: a prospective study in Beira, Mozambique. PloS one, 9(2), e89705.
Mindel, A. (2012). Herpes simplex virus. Springer Science & Business Media.
Minichiello, V., Rahman, S., & Hussain, R. (2013). Epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections in global indigenous populations: data availability and gaps. International journal of STD & AIDS, 24(10), 759-768.
Schiffer, J. T., & Corey, L. (2014). Herpes simplex virus. In Elsevier Inc..
Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT - News. (2016). Shfpact.org.au. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from https://www.shfpact.org.au/news-updates
World Health Organization. (2016). World Health Organization. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from https://www.who.int
a