Web Site Causes Stir Over Black Women's Herpes Rates

When a Web site reported that a recent government study erroneously reported that African American women have the highest rate of herpes infections in the United States, word spread across cyberspace with the speed of Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt. The unspoken message: The mainstream media were caught again painting African Americans in a bad light.

But the government agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quickly stood by its March report that Hiphopwired's facts actually were erroneous.

"We at CDC want to make it clear that CDC has not changed its position on the recently released HSV-2 data and firmly stands by the important findings of that report based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey-- or NHANES -- a nationally representative survey of the U.S. household population that assesses a broad range of health issues,'' an official said in an statement released Thursday.

The kerfuffle arose when a writer for Hiphopwired.com misunderstood an expert's explanation in an article for another Web site that quoted an expert who said statistics can sometimes be misleading. He was referring to the high rate of herpes infections in black women, a CDC spokeswoman said. Further, the writer attributed the explanation to a non-CDC spokesman, she said.

To be sure, the Web site now regrets the error. Everyone makes mistakes in today's speedy world of online journalism. But the news that the statistic was erroneous was received with great jubilation among black cyber-readers because the community is eager to remove the gnarly stigmatization from black women, whose reproductive health appears to garner media attention at every turn.

The CDC report was highlighted about the same time as a report about black women having a higher abortion rate than any other race. Many African Americans cried foul on both points, saying researchers and the media always are eager to color blacks in a bad light.

"I don't believe any of these statistics about blacks," commenter after commenter wrote in some form or fashion in response to the stories the AOL Black Voices Wellness blog.

But the CDC stands by its story.

"It is important to note, that while these findings, particularly the data regarding HSV-2 prevalence among black women may be startling, they are, in fact, an accurate representation of the prevalence of HSV infection in this population,'' the CDC release said. "It is important to note that individuals who test positive for herpes antibodies are in fact, infected...The reason for informing the public generally, and African American communities specifically, about this data is so that individuals can take the necessary steps to protect themselves, their partners and their children as well as reduce transmission to others.''

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