WEST PALM BEACH (Cox News Service) - Ken was always careful when he was having sex. He used condoms.

Well, "98 percent of the time."

He figures it was that time or two he got swept away that resulted in his contracting genital herpes.

At 39, he has had the sexually transmitted disease 10 years, and he finds he can manage his outbreaks with antiviral medications that suppress the virus that causes herpes.

That means less pain from blisters and little interruption to his sex life.

But he is still shocked by people's ignorance about the incurable disease. And that the fear of getting herpes has dissipated.

Both attitudes were displayed graphically in a survey done by the University of Connecticut that was released last month.

Nearly 80 percent of Americans surveyed were unaware of how widespread genital herpes has become, and 65 percent said they were "not at all" concerned about contracting the disease.

Yet statistics from the American Social Health Association show that 50 million Americans have genital herpes, and there are 1 million newly diagnosed infections each year.

Further, genital herpes affects one out of every five teens and adults in the United States and has increased 30 percent during the past 10 years, according to ASHA, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to stopping sexually transmitted diseases (www.ashastd.org.)

Some experts think ignorance of herpes has resulted from public concentration on HIV/AIDS.

Regardless, ASHA is concerned with education and curtailing the spread of the disease.

"The fact that so many people have genital herpes, yet virtually everybody underestimates the pervasiveness of the disease and their own personal risk, is what I call the herpes disconnect," says Dr. Linda Alexander, president of ASHA.

Some facts about genital herpes from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ASHA:

It is transmitted through direct contact, including kissing, sexual contact (vaginal, oral or anal sex), or skin-to-skin contact.

(If a person with oral herpes performs oral sex, it is possible for the partner to get genital herpes.)

It can be transmitted with or without the presence of sores or other symptoms.

It usually produces mild symptoms, and most people with the infection have no recognized symptoms. However, it can cause recurrent painful genital ulcers in many adults, and infection can be severe in people with suppressed immune systems.

Herpes can make people more susceptible to HIV infection, and can make HIV-infected individuals more infectious.

Health care providers can diagnose genital herpes by visual inspection, by taking a sample from the sore and by testing it to see whether the herpes virus is present.

The consistent and correct use of latex condoms is the best protection. However, condoms do not provide complete protection, because a herpes lesion might not be covered by the condom and the virus can shed.

If you or your partner has genital herpes, it is best to abstain from sex when symptoms are present, and to use latex condoms between outbreaks.

And if you know you have it, tell. "I always tell my partners," said Ken. "There is a trust issue there. I think people respect you more."

Copyright 2001 Cox News Service. All rights reserved.