CDC says 48 percent of African-American women are infected with herpes

[thirdeye]

My girlfriend JUST told me about this report this morning.  ONNIDAN FAMILY, IF NO ONE HAS SAID IT ALREADY, PLEASE READ AND PASS THIS ALONG TO ANY AND EVERYONE WHO MAY READ THOSE REPORTS AND BELIEVE IT.
THE CDC'S "REPORTING" IS FALLACIOUS AND INACCURATE.   THEY DID NOT SAMPLE THE ENTIRE POPULATION AND THEREFORE, CANNOT VALIDLY, MAKE A GENERALIZATION OF THEIR FINDINGS TO THE ENTIRE POPULATION.  THAT MEANS THAT PERHAPS 39 % OF THE BLACK WOMEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 14-49 THAT "THE CDC" SURVEYED MAY HAVE BEEN INFECTED.  BUT THAT DOES NOT! TRANSLATE TO ALL BLACK WOMEN.  THEY MAY HAVE ONLY SURVEYED/TESTED 100 WOMEN.
I will be putting on my Professor of Sociology hat and calling them today to address such erroneous and fallacious reporting.

[Valley Girl]

I understand that Herpes includes cold sores, canker sores and the like, but was that specified in the report? And if half the total population has Herpes why not point that out? Has there been a study of all citizens 14-49?

It is irresponsible reporting, and somebody needs to clarify...when people think Herpes you know their minds go straight to STD first...

[y04185]

Studies like this will only use a sample.  The CDC will not be able to get information from all Black women.  That is why samples are used.  You can always criticize the sample.  Besides the sample population, the other methods used to come to this conclusion should be scrutinized as well.  Also, can the results be duplicated? 

[Cholly]

My girlfriend JUST told me about this report this morning.  ONNIDAN FAMILY, IF NO ONE HAS SAID IT ALREADY, PLEASE READ AND PASS THIS ALONG TO ANY AND EVERYONE WHO MAY READ THOSE REPORTS AND BELIEVE IT.
THE CDC'S "REPORTING" IS FALLACIOUS AND INACCURATE.   THEY DID NOT SAMPLE THE ENTIRE POPULATION AND THEREFORE, CANNOT VALIDLY, MAKE A GENERALIZATION OF THEIR FINDINGS TO THE ENTIRE POPULATION.  THAT MEANS THAT PERHAPS 39 % OF THE BLACK WOMEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 14-49 THAT "THE CDC" SURVEYED MAY HAVE BEEN INFECTED.  BUT THAT DOES NOT! TRANSLATE TO ALL BLACK WOMEN.  THEY MAY HAVE ONLY SURVEYED/TESTED 100 WOMEN.
I will be putting on my Professor of Sociology hat and calling them today to address such erroneous and fallacious reporting.

DO NOT just think of Herpes as a STD.

Remember; the Herpes Virus causes a NUMBER of infections from cold sores to Chicken Pox and Shingles.

The CDC reporting is both accurate and correct, and no, they don't test every single person. They determine infection rates for this the same way they do with all other communicable diseases, by looking at reports and by gathering data from studies.

This is NOT some secret plan to dog out black people.

[Capler]

I'm sorry to say it but you don't have to sample the whole population in order to derive a fairly accurate picture of a group. Politics are a very good example.  By sampling a cross section of the population you can get an idea of the mood of the voters.  A stats class explains why this works and is basically fool proof.  On that cold sore notion, basically 100% of the population gets those at some point or another. Genital Herpes is not that uncommon, many people get it and never know they have it. Some folks may only get a very small outbreak of a couple bumps and never have another. You are only contagious during the outbreaks. I don't think there is a good way to test for it either unless a bump is present. So it's likely that most of us have been in contact with someone who has an active or dormant strain of this.

[Cholly]

^^^EXACTLY.

The only thing I will add is people should NOT get hung up on Herpes as a STD only.

Folks counted as having Herpes are people with cold sores and chicken pox.

BTW...

Once you are exposed to the virus, you have it for LIFE!

You do NOT get rid of it but you CAN suppress it, either through natural immunity or through pharmacological means.

This ain't NO big deal folks. 

[Capler]

On population sampling, this is why is is very important for all people fill out the census forms next week. The census is one of the few entities that attempts to count the entire population. This is attempted because folks will come back and try to debunk stats and estimates. In reality they can because everyone was not counted, but the gov. also can get a fairly accurate picture of the population by not counting everyone, -which it has never done.

[Valley Girl]

I hope yall know we have sense enough to know they used a sample...and I hope yall have sense enough to know that the posters on this board know Herpes is more than a STD...but please know that while most if not all the posters on this board know this fact, that doesn't translate to the general population, and when reporting this there should be some clarification that goes along with that...

[Valley Girl]

When I said all citizens I assumed it was a given that I meant a sample of all citizens....male, female, black, white, etc.

[QueHBCUFan]

I'm sorry to say it but you don't have to sample the whole population in order to derive a fairly accurate picture of a group. Politics are a very good example.  By sampling a cross section of the population you can get an idea of the mood of the voters.  A stats class explains why this works and is basically fool proof.  On that cold sore notion, basically 100% of the population gets those at some point or another. Genital Herpes is not that uncommon, many people get it and never know they have it. Some folks may only get a very small outbreak of a couple bumps and never have another. You are only contagious during the outbreaks. I don't think there is a good way to test for it either unless a bump is present. So it's likely that most of us have been in contact with someone who has an active or dormant strain of this.

I'm sorry Cap, but comparing how people vote to the likelihood of someone being infected with the Herpes virus is not a good indication that this was an accurate and fair assessment.

[Cholly]

I hope yall know we have sense enough to know they used a sample...and I hope yall have sense enough to know that the posters on this board know Herpes is more than a STD...but please know that while most if not all the posters on this board know this fact, that doesn't translate to the general population, and when reporting this there should be some clarification that goes along with that...

Now THAT was a point that I personally was concerned about.

The story was written to mislead people and deliberate or not, the end result is just the outrage we have seen on this thread. 

[thirdeye]

I'm sorry to say it but you don't have to sample the whole population in order to derive a fairly accurate picture of a group. Politics are a very good example.  By sampling a cross section of the population you can get an idea of the mood of the voters.  A stats class explains why this works and is basically fool proof.  On that cold sore notion, basically 100% of the population gets those at some point or another. Genital Herpes is not that uncommon, many people get it and never know they have it. Some folks may only get a very small outbreak of a couple bumps and never have another. You are only contagious during the outbreaks. I don't think there is a good way to test for it either unless a bump is present. So it's likely that most of us have been in contact with someone who has an active or dormant strain of this.

CAP,

Please don't argue with me on this point.  I know what I'm talking about.  And sisters are gonna need you brothers to either stand down or support us.  To make a statement that almost 50% of African American women are infected with HERPES is dangerous for us, socially, politically, and economically.  It has tremendous implications and is nothing to play with or minimize. I feel sick by this asinine report. As an African American woman, I really don't want people believing such a lie. It depended on peoples ignorance about methodology.
After I got off of Onnidan I went on a crusade contacting the authors, filing a complaint with the CDC and challenging CNN and other media that reported that nonsense.  And I will continue until the CDC and the Media either retract the story or clarify the findings.  Sampling in methods is EXTREMELY IMPERATIVE if you are going to try to generalize findings to an ENTIRE population.  I found the original report.  It is a report from 2000.  The sample size was 4128.  Of that 40 % (a little over 1600) of AFrican American women tested, tested positive for HSV 2 compared to 30% White women.  One can generalize on a study as long as the sample and sample design is sound.  When it comes to discussing who is infected, one cannot make generalizations and need to stick with discussing those studied. The way that the media has skewed the reports is ridiculous and COMPLETELY FALSE.  I ASK: please don't perpetuate, justify, or minimize this nonsense on this site.  Here is the link FYI:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/Press_Releases/AfAmericans2000.htm

[thirdeye]

I hope yall know we have sense enough to know they used a sample...and I hope yall have sense enough to know that the posters on this board know Herpes is more than a STD...but please know that while most if not all the posters on this board know this fact, that doesn't translate to the general population, and when reporting this there should be some clarification that goes along with that...

Tell them VG....