A second type of the herpes virus that primarily causes genital herpes is rarer but still present in about 11% of people. Among unmarried adults, this percentage can approach 75 percent. Lindsey, whose name has been changed, contracted the virus in her 20s, when her committed boyfriend didn’t realize he had a cold sore. When things began to feel off-kilter, she did a quick mirror check and had her fear confirmed by her doctor: She’d contracted an STD and was having a breakout. “I mostly thought, ‘I’m going to die alone, no one’s going to date me ever again,” she tells SELF. Although herpes is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases, it’s shrouded in stigma.
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