The Itch Will Give It Away
Many of the clinical, telltale symptoms of genital herpes can go unnoticed in female teens, but young teenage boys who contract the life-long disease cannot hide the most publicly prevalent of symptoms: Crazy Genital Itching.
Black and Hispanic teenage boys, as well as white teens who have black or Hispanic girl friends, are at the highest risk of contracting genital herpes. The sexual and social subcultures of both blacks and Hispanics proffer upon the youths a predisposition toward risky, early sexual experimentation. The peer pressure is great to prove their immature masculinity within their social circles.
Blacks and Hispanics have some of the highest rates of genital herpes. Some geographic areas are at near epidemic levels of infection. This sexually transmitted disease can only be contracted through intimate sexual contact. With many white teens attending city high schools rich with minorities, the white teens adopt minority habits: the music, the speech, the illiteracy, the gate and body movements, and the behavior problems. Sexual habits are no exception.
Shortly before the area of genital herpes infection erupts, the infected teenage boy experiences nearly uncontrollable itching. Parents will see it. Teachers will see it. But to their peers in public social settings, minority teenage boys are not discouraged from rubbing or scratching their crotch. It is normal behavior for them.
Parents and teachers must be alert to the inappropriate, public scratching on the part of their teenage boys. For parents, you should take note if your young teen is not active in sports, yet complains of frequent jock itch. Have the boys examined by a healthcare professional for a sexually transmitted disease. For teachers who see their young male students almost every day, be alert to any student who constantly scratches their crotch area and disclose this information to the school nurse.
It is only through education that we can thwart the growing teen epidemic of genital herpes in our nation's high school population. Prevention is the preferrable route to take, but once an infection is diagnosed the teenage boy should be educated and made to know that the disease is a life term and that they could not only spread it to others, but they could spread their disease to their own eyes and mouth and nasal passages. This is a complication they do not want to experience. The facial herpes infections are as a Scarlet Letter in society.