(10 May 2002)

The USA independent television production company, TV Interactive (TVI), gave its backing to a campaign in April 2002 to promote greater awareness of genital herpes and to help reduce the stigma which surrounds the infection.

TVI has been running a series of announcements on the television show, Healthy Solutions, on the theme of ‘Herpes, The Silent STD’ and featuring video clips on its website, www.healthysolutions.tv/herpes

The National STD Awareness Month campaign was run by ASHA, the American Social Health Association, throughout April 2002. It featured the hard-hitting message, ‘Herpes. Spread the word. Not the Virus’. [See April news desk]

TVI says: ‘Thanks to awareness and education by organizations like ASHA, people are now becoming better informed. The good news is that more information translates into people going to their doctors for diagnosis and treatment.’

The campaign is also promoting a medical research program in the USA and Canada that is currently recruiting adults aged 18–65 to investigate the effectiveness of a drug in development to boost the body’s immune response to herpesvirus infection, reported on this website in March.

Source: TVI Press release, 22 April 2002