80 percent of the population has oral herpes (cold sores). 1 in every 4 women has genital herpes. Likewise, 1 in every 5 men has genital herpes. That is a lot of people who carry the herpes virus. 90 percent of those people with herpes are asymptomatic. Thus, they don't know they have herpes and can spread the disease to others without ever realizing it. Yes, you might have herpes and not know it. Your only way to know for sure if you have been exposed is a type specific blood test (type 1 or type 2 herpes virus).

  Your only weapon against this disease is knowledge. Herpes is not life threatening, but it does severely impact your standard of living if you let the disease control you. In fact the most damage done doesn't come from the disease itself, but rather, from what we do to ourselves because of the disease. If you have herpes, comfort can come from knowledge and the support of others like yourself.

    The people who have herpes are afflicted with a virus which causes both physical and emotional pain. The worst pain afflicted upon them is that born of the loneliness and despair which accompanies the disease. It is common for people with herpes to seclude themselves away. They work hard to keep their secret a secret. They do this because of the social stigma attached to the disease. While some people may get the disease from promiscuous behavior others, many, probably most, did not. Yet the social stigma persists and sufferers are plunged into heart wrenching isolation. Does this sound like you? Or are you just wanting more information?

    The Chattanooga H Network is a local social group. We exist for the benefit of those who suffer from the HSV and HPV viruses. We are also here for those non-herpsters who have utilized education to overcome their fear of herpes. We are a family of friends that is a support group and an educational facility. Here is a place where both singles and those in relationships can find one another and build solid friendships with understanding people.

   Why would a family of friends be so focused on education? Many reasons actually. Foremost amongst those reasons is the vast tomes of misinformation and ill conceived "conventional wisdom" that persists. Doctors still tell patients that outside of the times when they have an outbreak, they are not contagious, which is not altogether accurate. Some doctors teach that if one is taking a suppression medication then they may either get rid of the disease or at the least not pass it on. These ideas are wrong. On the other side of the equation are the non-herpsters.

    Many "non-herpsters" believe that one can only get herpes through behaviors not generally accepted as socially acceptable; or they believe that one cannot have any sort of relationship, intimate or mundane, without fear of contracting the disease. Again these ideas are flat wrong. Education about the facts is the key.

    Education is the key to living an empowered life again. Education is the key to neither helping to spread the disease, nor getting the disease, nor being a slave to it. Healthy herpsters are those who define the disease and do not let it define them.

   And so, we state concisely that the purpose of Chattanooga H Network is twofold in nature. First, we exist to be a "support group" - that is, a family of friends which meets for real time socials and rides and to otherwise "be there" for each other. Our second function is to educate about both herpes and HPV.