Although it’s not always openly discussed, genital herpes remains one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, 1 out of 4 people in the United States over age 18 have genital herpes. There are two types of herpes viruses, herpes simplex virus 1 and herpes simplex virus 2. Genital herpes may be caused by either. Genital herpes may be spread through sexual contact, defined as sexual intercourse, mouth to genital contact and genital to genital contact and is not spread by contact with inanimate objects, with the exception of sex toys. The average person with an HSV-2 infe