Doctors, Patients Poorly Informed About Herpes

How much do you know about genital herpes? How much do you think your doctor thinks you know about genital herpes? Researchers wondered, too, and determined that patients who are infected with herpes are poorly informed about this sexually transmitted disease, and family physicians believe that their patients know much more than what they do.

Researchers detailed their findings in a recent press release. They found wide gaps in what doctors views and their patients views. This is easily illustrated by comparing the different responses that the physicians and patients provided in response to questionnaires.

Both the doctors and herpes patients were asked whether or not they took antiviral treatment. In response, 75 percent of doctors believed that their patients took antiviral treatment for herpes whereas only 29 percent of patients said that they took antiviral treatment.

When asked if treatment options for herpes had been discussed with their physician, over half, 59 percent, of the doctors said that they had discussed treatment options with their patients. However, only 25 percent of patients said that their doctor discussed their options for treating herpes.

Patients' beliefs about how herpes is spread
It is important to remember that the patients who participated in this research study all had the herpes virus. All of these patients were receiving medical treatment for the herpes virus.

-Nearly all participants knew that herpes was spread through sex

-Only 66 percent of the patients knew that the only way to contract herpes is through sex. They thought that sex was just one of the ways you could contract herpes.

-Nearly 20 percent though that you could contract the sexually transmitted disease herpes from blood transfusions or toilet seats

-Nearly 10 percent thought that you could spread herpes by simply shaking hands with someone who was infected with this virus

-Surprisingly, 5 percent thought that you could catch the herpes virus from either a swimming pool or bath

Beliefs about the spread of herpes
One of the biggest concern that researchers found was that both physicians and patients did not fully understand the risks of passing the herpes infection to another person when there were no symptoms of the disease. Doctors estimated that 45 percent of infections are passed when there are no signs of infection; patients estimated that 51 percent of herpes infections are passed without symptoms. The authors of the study said that neither answer was correct.

Indeed, 70 percent of the cases where herpes is spread from one person to another occur when there are no symptoms of this disease, or the infected person is asymptomatic.

The results of this survey clearly demonstrate the need to educate both physicans and patients about sexually transmitted diseases, specifically herpes. The full report is available online.

Source:
http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/535554/