alt Hacker NewsMost of the stigmatization of HSV in the US is mostly the result of pharmaceutical companies trying to create a market for HSV antiviral drugs. In the 1980s they ran ads that equated HSV with leprosy. Since that was also the time of the AIDS scare the public was probably very susceptible. Even in my childhood I remember ads on TV for the antiviral drugs promising a way of "living a normal life" despite HSV infection.
That's crazy. Herpes can't be cured, so the implication of those ads can only be to "hide" the infection. Additionally, those antivirals aren't effective at preventing outbreaks unless you take them every day, which would be insane unless you are an unfortunate soul who is prone to constant outbreaks.