ArticlePloS one2008
Genital herpes has played a more important role than any other sexually transmitted infection in driving HIV prevalence in Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 146 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
146 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 255 citations in OpenAlex.
- Estimated global and regional incidence and prevalence of herpes simplex virus infections and genital ulcer disease in 2020: mathematical modelling analyses.Sexually transmitted infections · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Estimated economic burden of genital herpes and HIV attributable to herpes simplex virus type 2 infections in 90 low- and middle-income countries: A modeling study.PLoS medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of herpes simplex virus 2 among MSM in Mainland China: a systematic review and meta-synthesis.AIDS research and therapy · 2022Pooled it
- Epidemiology of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand: Systematic Review, Meta-Analyses, and Meta-Regressions.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Epidemiology of herpes simplex virus type 2 in Latin America and the Caribbean: systematic review, meta-analyses and metaregressions.Sexually transmitted infections · 2021Pooled it
- HSV-2 as a biomarker of HIV epidemic potential in female sex workers: meta-analysis, global epidemiology and implications.Scientific reports · 2020Pooled it
- HIV and herpes simplex virus type 2 epidemiological synergy: misguided observational evidence? A modelling study.Sexually transmitted infections · 2018Pooled it
- Global population-level association between herpes simplex virus 2 prevalence and HIV prevalence.AIDS (London, England) · 2018Pooled it
- HSV-2 serology can be predictive of HIV epidemic potential and hidden sexual risk behavior in the Middle East and North Africa.Epidemics · 2010Pooled it
- Trial
- Recombinant adenovirus type 5 HIV gag/pol/nef vaccine in South Africa: unblinded, long-term follow-up of the phase 2b HVTN 503/Phambili study.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2014Trial
- Trial
- Use of acyclovir for suppression of human immunodeficiency virus infection is not associated with genotypic evidence of herpes simplex virus type 2 resistance to acyclovir: analysis of specimens from three phase III trials.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2010Trial
- Trial
- Estimating the public health impact of the effect of herpes simplex virus suppressive therapy on plasma HIV-1 viral load.AIDS (London, England) · 2009Trial
- Effect of HSV-2 serostatus on acquisition of HIV by young men: results of a longitudinal study in Orange Farm, South Africa.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2009Trial
- Characteristics of HIV-1 discordant couples enrolled in a trial of HSV-2 suppression to reduce HIV-1 transmission: the partners study.PloS one · 2009Trial
- Epithelial interferon-γ responsiveness shapes chemokine induction and clinical outcomes in herpes simplex virus infection.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Projected public health benefits of a hypothetical HSV-1 vaccine in the United States: A mathematical modeling analysis.Science advances · 2026Article
86 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundExtensive evidence from observational studies suggests a role for genital herpes in the HIV epidemic. A number of herpes vaccines are under development and several trials of the efficacy of HSV-2 treatment with acyclovir in reducing HIV acquisition, transmission, and disease progression have just reported their results or will report their results in the next year. The potential impact of these interventions requires a quantitative assessment of the magnitude of the synergy between HIV and HSV-2 at the population level. METHODS AND
findingsA deterministic compartmental model of HIV and HSV-2 dynamics and interactions was constructed. The nature of the epidemiologic synergy was explored qualitatively and quantitatively and compared to other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The results suggest a more substantial role for HSV-2 in fueling HIV spread in sub-Saharan Africa than other STIs. We estimate that in settings of high HSV-2 prevalence, such as Kisumu, Kenya, more than a quarter of incident HIV infections may have been attributed directly to HSV-2. HSV-2 has also contributed considerably to the onward transmission of HIV by increasing the pool of HIV positive persons in the population and may explain one-third of the differential HIV prevalence among the cities of the Four City study. Conversely, we estimate that HIV had only a small net impact on HSV-2 prevalence.
conclusionsHSV-2 role as a biological cofactor in HIV acquisition and transmission may have contributed substantially to HIV particularly by facilitating HIV spread among the low-risk population with stable long-term sexual partnerships. This finding suggests that prevention of HSV-2 infection through a prophylactic vaccine may be an effective intervention both in nascent epidemics with high HIV incidence in the high risk groups, and in established epidemics where a large portion of HIV transmission occurs in stable partnerships.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.