Health Buzz: 1 in 6 Americans Has Genital Herpes

March 10, 2010 RSS Feed Print

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1 in 6 Americans Has Genital Herpes

The sexually transmitted strain of herpes simplex virus infects 1 out of every 6 Americans, HealthDay reports. Luckily, the rate of infection is not increasing, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the agency did find that certain groups are more at risk. The infection rate in women, for example, was almost double the rate in men, while three times as many blacks as whites were infected, the report showed. Among those who reported having a history of 10 or more sex partners, 27 percent had herpes, compared with 4 percent of those with one lifetime sex partner, HealthDay reports.

[Read Rise in Sexually Transmitted Diseases Poses Biggest Risk to Young Women and How to Tell Your Partner About an STD.]

Feeling Depressed or Anxious? Screen Yourself Online

You've been feeling particularly anxious, depressed, or irritable lately. How do you know if it's time to seek help? While not a substitute for diagnosis by a medical professional, a number of online questionnaires, including a new one discussed in a study published in the March-April issue of Annals of Family Medicine, can help you determine whether your symptoms are something to be concerned about, U.S. News's January Payne writes.

Bradley Gaynes, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, notes that a positive result doesn't mean you have a psychiatric illness. But it does mean you're "having some distressing psychiatric symptoms" and might benefit from expert attention.

"If you turn out to have a high score on any of these things, go see a psychiatrist and get a proper diagnosis," advises Ivan Goldberg, a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City since the 1960s who has developed several screening tools that are widely posted on mental-health websites. Goldberg's tools and the new questionnaire, called My Mood Monitor, are just a few of the mental-health screening tools available on the Internet; Google "mental health questionnaire," and you'll see more than 3 million results testing for everything from depression to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Read more.

[Read How to Identify Suicide Risk Before It's Too Late and Depressed and Coping: Treating Depression When Medication Fails.]

Long-Term Osteoporosis Medication Use May Weaken Bones

New research suggests that prolonged use of medication to prevent bone loss may actually weaken bones, the Los Angeles Times reports. Researchers compared 111 women who took a group of drugs called bisphosphonates to treat osteoporosis for at least four years with 50 women who did not. They found that the group on bisphosphonates had more femur fractures, according to the Times. But the team did not recommend that patients stop taking or doctors stop prescribing the medicines, given their bone-building benefits in the short term. They said more research was needed to develop "sustainable" treatments.

In December, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz wrote about how women can tell if they need a bisphosphonate like Boniva, Fosamax, or Actonel. Losing some bone mass as you age is normal: Women lose an average of 2 to 7 percent of their bone mass every year during the first few years after the onset of menopause, which can pose problems if they start out with low bone mass to begin with. Doctors often do bone density scans in 50-something women, especially those who have a family history of osteoporosis, to determine whether to prescribe bisphosphonate drugs.

A scan measurement of -2.5 or lower indicates osteoporosis, which requires frequent monitoring, lifestyle changes like weight lifting, supplements of vitamin D and calcium, and—often—treatment with a bisphosphonate drug. Read more.

[Read How Much Vitamin D Should You Be Taking? and Grappling With a Diagnosis of Osteopenia.]

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