WESTPORT, Ct-A new report published in The Journal of the American medical Association shows women are much less likely to become infected with herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) if their infected partner wears a condom.
Anna Wald, MD, from the University of Washington in Seattle led a group of researchers in a study of the sexually transmitted disease. They found that 10% of women and 2% of men became infected after studying a group of 528 monogamous couples discordant for HSV-2 infection.
Condom use for more than 25% of sexual acts significantly reduced the infection risk for women, but not for men. Abstinence when the infected partner had lesions also reduced the risk of transmission.
This study was one of the first to show that condom use could reduce the risk of HSV-2 transmission.
