Genital Herpes Has Played a More Important Role than Any Other Sexually Transmitted Infection in Driving HIV Prevalence in Africa
Figure 6
Schematic diagram of the role of HSV-2 in HIV epidemiology.
The upper panel (A) shows the HIV and HSV-2 groups of sustainable transmission (GST) in absence of interaction between the two diseases while the lower panel (B) shows the groups of sustainable transmission in presence of the epidemiological synergy. The high HSV-2 prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa has facilitated a substantial increase in the size of the HIV group of sustainable transmission to encompass a large fraction of the low-risk population.
