Health
Incurable, 'highly contagious' STD affects nearly 900 million people under age 50
The rise of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continues to pose threats.
The prevalence of one uncurable STI in particular – genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 and 2 – is at a global high, according to a new study published in the BMJ Journals Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Approximately 846 million people between 15 and 49 years old (more than one in five) were living with a genital herpes infection as of 2020.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that at least one person each second, amounting to 42 million people annually, is estimated to acquire the infection.
While HSV-2 is slowly declining, genital HSV-1 is increasing, although it does not cause as much burden, one expert said. (iStock)
The researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar, noted that both types of HSV infections are lifelong and can cause symptomatic genital ulcer disease (GUC).
HSV-2 “almost always” causes sexually transmitted genital infection, the researchers said, while HSV-1 mainly causes oral infection, like cold sores, but can be sexually transmitted to cause a genital infection.
The infection can lead to painful genital sores and blisters that typically recur in random episodes throughout life. In 2020, more than 200 million people in the same age group suffered at least one painful symptomatic episode, data shows.
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Not every case of HSV is symptomatic, which makes transmission more likely.
The researchers concluded that the “high incidence and prevalence” of HSV worldwide requires new prevention and treatment measures, such as vaccines, to control the spread and reduce the disease burden.
Approximately 846 million people between 15 and 49 years old are living with a genital herpes infection as of 2020. (iStock)
Study co-author Laith Abu-Raddad, a health care policy and research professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, emphasized the scale of HSV’s impact.
“Symptomatic genital herpes imposes a substantial global burden, affecting 200 million people annually and incurring significant economic costs, estimated at $35 billion per year due to health care expenditures and productivity loss,” he wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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“Addressing this pressing health challenge requires a fundamental solution,” Abu-Raddad went on.
“Developing a vaccine capable of protecting against HSV-1 and HSV-2, the viruses responsible for genital herpes, represents a pivotal step toward controlling this infection on a global scale.”
Curing the incurable
There is currently no cure for HSV, although there are treatments to help manage symptoms.
The STI can also lead to more serious complications like neonatal herpes, which can be transmitted from a mother to her baby during childbirth.
HSV-2 accounts for 90% of symptomatic episodes and is linked to a significantly higher risk of contracting HIV, according to the WHO.
HSV can cause painful sores and blisters that can occur in periodic episodes, according to experts. (iStock)
Dr. Gabe Gaviola, senior medical director at Everlywell in New York — an at-home STD testing and treatment platform — shared his concern about increased exposure.
“HSV is highly contagious and often asymptomatic, which means many people may unknowingly transmit the virus,” Gaviola, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. “This makes prevention and early diagnosis more difficult.”
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“There’s also a persistent stigma associated with genital herpes, which may discourage individuals from seeking treatment or disclosing their herpes status to partners, leading to further spread.”
Gaviola reiterated how HSV infection can increase the risk of contracting other STIs due to the “sores and compromised skin barrier,” which makes it “even more crucial to seek proper testing and treatment.”
“New data in this study highlight just how widespread HSV-2 and HSV-1 are, with millions of new and existing cases each year,” one doctor said. (iStock)
“High prevalence rates, especially in individuals aged 15 to 49 years old, are driven by a lack of public awareness, prevention efforts, and access to testing and treatment,” he said.
For those experiencing symptoms, Gaviola recommends getting regular screenings and being open with sexual partners to reduce the spread.
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“Safer sex practices, including condom use and antiviral treatments for those who have HSV, can help reduce the transmission of HSV,” he added.
While HSV outbreaks can be controlled and potentially become less frequently or severely over time, flare-ups can occur during times of stress or illness, according to Gaviola.
Experts explain that the nature of HSV make it difficult to pinpoint a cure. (iStock)
HSV remains dormant in nerve cells after initial infection, which makes it “extremely difficult to completely eradicate from the body,” he said.
“It can reactivate at any time, often without warning,” he warned. “This dormancy also allows the virus to evade the immune system, which prevents the body from eliminating the infection.”
“It can reactivate at any time, often without warning.”
“While there are no cures yet, progress in vaccine development and antiviral therapies is promising,” he said.
“Public health measures to reduce transmission and improve treatment are critical in managing the global burden of HSV.”
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Anna Wald, M.D., professor of medicine, laboratory medicine and epidemiology at the University of Washington, noted that the nature of the herpes virus, much like chickenpox and shingles, makes the development of a cure difficult – although early, preclinical trials are underway.
According to Wald, there have also been some attempts to develop a preventative HSV vaccine that have failed. (iStock)
“[A] cure is likely to require gene therapy, which is a potentially risky approach for a non-lethal disease,” Wald, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital. “So progress is slow as a result.”
There have also been some attempts to develop a prophylactic vaccine that have failed, according to the doctor.
“Testing vaccines for prevention is very expensive, but there are some new candidate vaccines that will hopefully be in trials in the next few years,” she shared.
“In my opinion, a preventative vaccine would be an optimal approach, but we don’t yet know how to make one that will work – and testing them is a lengthy and costly process.”
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Red light therapy has been shown to reduce brain inflammation, protecting people who experience head trauma from long-term health consequences, a University of Utah study has shown.
Brain damage from repeated impact over the years is known to cause cognitive symptoms, ranging from memory issues to full-blown dementia, particularly affecting soldiers and athletes.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive, degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts rather than a single injury, according to Mayo Clinic.
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More than 100 former NFL football players have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE, according to the new study, which was published in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
Other research has shown that military personnel in active combat suffer from similar issues, as do first responders and veterans.
The treatment was administered three times a week for 20 minutes using specialized headsets and intranasal devices designed to penetrate the skull. (iStock)
In the new study, the researchers recruited 26 current football players to understand more about the impact of red-light therapy on brain injuries.
The participants received either red light therapy delivered by a light-emitting headset and a device that clips into the nose, or a placebo treatment with an identical device that doesn’t produce light. Players self-administered the therapy three times a week, 20 minutes each time, for 16 weeks.
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“My first reaction was, ‘There’s no way this can be real,’” said first author Hannah Lindsey, Ph.D., in the university press release. “That’s how striking it was.”
Specific wavelengths of light are believed to enter the brain and reduce molecules that trigger inflammation, potentially halting the path toward dementia and other cognitive conditions. (iStock)
Players using the placebo treatment experienced increased brain inflammation over the course of the season. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans taken at the end of the season showed significantly more signs of inflammation than at the beginning of the season, the study found.
For players who used red-light therapy during the season, their brain inflammation didn’t increase at all.
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Previous studies have shown that red light, if powerful enough, can penetrate the skull and reach the brain, where it may reduce inflammation-related molecules.
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“When we first started this project, I was extremely skeptical,” said Elisabeth Wilde, Ph.D., the senior author on the study. “But we’ve seen consistent results across multiple of our studies, so it’s starting to be quite compelling.”
Study limitations
The study was conducted using a small sample size, which led to different levels of inflammation in the treatment and control groups, the researchers acknowledged.
While the placebo group showed increased brain inflammation during the football season, those receiving red light therapy showed no increase in inflammatory markers. (iStock)
Future large randomized clinical trials will be “crucial to back up the results” in larger populations, they noted.
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“We’ve been trying to figure out how to make sports safer, so that our kids, friends and family can participate in sports safely for the long term while they’re involved in activities that give them happiness and joy,” Carrie Esopenko, Ph.D., second author of the study, said in the release.
“And this really feels like part of the hope for protecting the brain that we’ve been searching for.”
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The team plans to recruit 300 people with persistent symptoms from TBI or concussion for a randomized controlled trial in 2026, with a focus on first responders, veterans and active-duty service members.
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Drinking heavily and consistently over an adult’s lifetime could lead to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study published in the journal Cancer by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The study analyzed 20 years of data from more than 88,000 U.S. adults to determine how long-term drinking impacted the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) or precancerous colorectal adenomas (polyps).
The participants reported their average weekly intake of beer, wine and liquor intake during four age periods — 18 to 24, 25 to 39, 40 to 54, and 55 and older.
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“Heavy drinkers” were identified as having more than 14 drinks per week and “moderate drinkers” had between seven and 14 drinks per week.
The observational research revealed that consistent heavy drinking over adulthood was linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, especially rectal cancer.
Researchers found a major association between colorectal cancer diagnosis and heavy lifetime drinking. (iStock)
Heavy lifetime drinking was associated with a 25% higher overall CRC risk and nearly double the risk of rectal cancer. Moderate lifetime drinking had a lower overall CRC risk.
Compared to light drinkers, the consistently heavy drinkers had about a 91% higher risk of CRC.
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For colorectal adenomas (precancerous polyps), higher current lifetime drinking did not show a strong pattern, although former drinkers showed a significantly lower risk of non-advanced adenoma compared to current light drinkers.
Out of the 88,092 participants, 1,679 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Out of the 88,092 participants in the study, 1,679 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. (iStock)
The authors noted that the research was limited, as it was observational and not based on a clinical trial. It also hinged on self-reported alcohol use.
The findings suggest that consistently heavy alcohol intake and higher average lifetime consumption “may increase CRC risk, whereas cessation may lower adenoma risk,” the researchers stated. Associations “may differ by tumor site,” they added.
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The link between drinking alcohol and cancer is not a new discovery, according to health experts.
In a recent episode of the podcast “The Dr. Mark Hyman Show,” Dr. Mark Hyman, chief medical officer of Function Health in California, detailed how even moderate drinking can impact “nearly every organ system in the body,” due to metabolic stress, inflammation, impaired detoxification and its effect on hormones.
The link between drinking alcohol and cancer is not a new discovery, according to health experts. (iStock)
Drinking has been found to increase the risk of many cancers, metabolic dysfunction, gut microbiome disturbances and mitochondrial toxins, Hyman said.
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“Bottom line, alcohol taxes every major system in your body, especially your liver, your brain, your gut, your hormones,” he warned.
Reducing or eliminating alcohol can lower the risk of several cancers, according to medical experts. (Getty Images)
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Pinchieh Chiang, a clinician at Circle Medical in San Francisco, shared that taking a break from drinking alcohol for longer periods of time can “reshape health more profoundly.”
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“Over months to a year, we see sustained improvements in blood pressure, liver function and inflammation,” she said. “Those changes directly affect long-term heart disease and stroke risk.”
Chiang added, “Reducing or eliminating alcohol lowers the risk of several cancers, including breast and colorectal, over time.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the study researchers for comment.
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A mysterious hum is reportedly plaguing the residents of Cincinnati, keeping people up at night and even disturbing them psychologically.
Residents of the Northside, Clifton and Camp Washington neighborhoods have been reporting the disturbances since December. The noises are said to be louder and more noticeable at night.
“We were hearing this siren-like quality noise — whirring, oscillating, going up and down,” said Clifton resident Shaun Herold, who contacted local news outlet WKRC about the noises.
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“My son came up to me and said, ‘Dad, the tornado sirens are going off,’” Herold said. “Usually, it starts at about 10 p.m. It can go till 3 a.m., 4 a.m. But it’s quite unpredictable.”
“It kind of stresses me out ’cause I don’t know what it is. It’s kind of scary,” added his son, Elijah Herold.
A mysterious, intermittent hum has been disturbing Cincinnati residents since December, disrupting sleep and causing psychological stress. (iStock)
Herold said he spent one entire night tracking how many times he heard the noise going on and off. The duration of the noises can vary from a few seconds to several minutes.
“I feel like it’s definitely like a foreign sound,” Northside’s Brendan Marcum told the news outlet. “Some nights it would be a little louder, some nights it would be a little quieter.”
“It kind of stresses me out because I don’t know what it is, and it’s kind of scary,” added another resident.
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Hundreds of Cincinnati residents have shared their theories about potential sources of the sound on social media, ranging from biblical to supernatural.
On Reddit, other users blamed the recycling plant. “My favorite theory is River Metals Recycling,” one person wrote, claiming that the plant moved neighborhoods when the original location “wouldn’t put up with the noise from its metal shredder any longer.”
Residents have described the sound as a siren-like, oscillating whirring that can last from seconds to several minutes. (iStock)
Others suspect the noise is coming from a failing turbocharger on a diesel train engine at the nearby CSX Queensgate, a major freight rail yard in Cincinnati.
While the yard routinely generates loud, mechanical sounds, residents say they’ve never heard anything like this before.
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WKRC reported that an anonymous source sent recordings of the locomotive, claiming it to be the source of the sound. However, a spokesperson for CSX told the news station that he “has not heard a noise like that on our property” and suggested it could be coming from another location.
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He added that any equipment requiring maintenance is “handled through established operating and mechanical protocols.”
According to a source, rail crews have reported the engine for excessive noise and believe it will be repaired. (iStock)
“We just hope to get to the bottom of it, figure out what it is, and if it’s, you know, a temporary thing or not,” Herold told the news outlet. “And hopefully the community can rally if it’s not temporary, because it’s really impacting us.”
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City officials recommend that residents report the noise to 311, the city’s non-emergency line.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cincinnati officials for updates.
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