I wanted to start a general thread about Sexually Transmitted Diseases and I hope there isn't an older thread but I couldn't find one that was a general. Since AIDS day was recent let's have a talk about STDs boys and girls.
Just wondering about peoples thoughts on STDs - preferably outside of the AIDs/HIV stuff most ASTers have probably heard before (i.e. man-made, no link between the two).
Also, I'm sure many of you are familiar with HPV and Gardasil but feel free to address this stuff if you'd like.

I'm wondering what people think of the other STDs- especially the less fatal ones like gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, herpes, LGV, etc.

Does any one have thoughts on herpes? I see that Abbreva stuff everywhere and it seems like there should be a cure for herpes by now. Does anyone feel like they see more and more cold sores on people these days? I'm younger so maybe some older, wiser people could comment. Do cold sores seem more prevalent these days?

And of these non-deadly STDs, what's the consensus on cures? Kept secret? Big Pharm? Why provide a cure when you can treat it forever kind of thing?
What would be the advantage of riddling populations with inconvenient diseases instead of fatal ones?
Do people feel these less fatal diseases are used deliberately by the man?
Are these weapons of oppression?
Thanks for additions to the general topic and stay safe!

Great question and conversational piece. I, for one, always thought that Big Pharm covers up many cures they possess. It's like what happened several years ago when scientists found the single cell in a person's body that creates cancer (apparently every person has this particular cancer cell in their body). Well, if they detected it, can't they find a cure?

But on the flipside, if they found and made public a cure, that would eliminates BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars globally. What is the sense of announcing or providing a cure when you can make so much more money prolonging the treatment. Although I am diverting from the topic at hand, I still think we are on the same page. Why hasn't there been a cure for the common cold? Same reason as mentioned: If you create a cure, you lose money.

And besides, astray from the deadly diseases out there (population reducers), one in five people has a form of Herpes Simplex 1 or 2.

I have a theory on Herpes. Since it is a form of chickenpox and people were given the live virus as a vaccine it remained alive and dormant in the body and manifests as cold sores when people have situations of repressed immunities and stress.

So my theory is that many people were given the herpes virus through the vaccination given in the arm as a child that caused the sore on the arm and most have a scar to this day.

An interesting fact I read recently is that herpes can help prevent cancer somehow.