The number of people infected with sexually transmitted infections -Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)-2 and syphilis - which are known to predispose them to HIV infection, is on the rise.

According to the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey, of those who had the HSV-2, 81 per cent were also infected with HIV.

The researchers found that with 40.1 per cent, urban areas had the highest rates of HSV-2 infections compared to the 34.2 per cent in the rural areas. Likewise infections were high among urban women (47.4 per cent) than their rural counterparts (41 per cent).

When it comes to provinces, Nyanza province leads with 49.7 per cent HSV-2 prevalence, followed at a distance by other provinces: Coast (39.7 per cent), Western (38.3 per cent), Nairobi (37.8 per cent), Rift Valley (32.9 per cent), Eastern (28.6 per cent), Central (28 per cent), and North Eastern (6.4 per cent). 

On the gender dimension of the disease, about 33 per cent of men and women aged between 15 and 49 years are infected with the HSV-2, with women (40.6 per cent) than men (23.4 per cent) being more affected. 

Infections rates are however higher among those aged between 30 and 64 years. Women and men in the age bracket of 40 to 44 years were the most affected, with a prevalence rate of 54.2 per cent. 

Being a sexually transmitted disease, HIV experts think men and women of older generation and in stable relationships are not using condoms, one of the gadgets known to prevent the transmission of the Herpes virus.

Similarly, prevalence rates of syphilis among men and women aged 15 to 49 years was 1.2 per cent. But unlike HSV-2, this prevalence was high in the rural areas (1.5 per cent) than in the urban settings (1.3 per cent). Those with the disease were more vulnerable to HIV infection. Indeed, of those diagnosed with syphilis, 3.4 percent had also HIV.