PACORRECTION: This article was originally published containing false or misleading information. The original article stated there was a massive spike in cases of herpes reported linked to the Coachella music festival. This is not true. The Riverside County Department of Public Health reported no increase of reports for herpes following Coachella.
Coachella might have a reputation as a glamorous, glittery, Insta-worthy festival, but those opinions could soon change as it’s been falsely linked to a massive herpes spike.
The huge music and arts festival attracts a whole host of guests every year, including celebrities who enjoy the experience both as visitors and as performers.
It ran this year from April 12 to April 21, but it was suggested that a lot of people came away with more than good memories and some well-filtered photos.
PixabayAccording to TMZ, HerpAlert, an online diagnosis and treatment website for herpes, reported a huge spike in the number of people hoping to get treated for the STD in the communities surrounding the famous music festival.
An online diagnosis and treatment website for herpes is not a public health body.
On the website, users can send NSFW images of their problematic areas for clinical evaluation, and receive prescription treatment in just a couple of hours.
The attendees must have certainly been busy, as the site had an increased number of customers seeking prescriptions for herpes since the very first day of Coachella.
A whopping 1,105 cases have been reported to HerpAlert in Indio, Palm Desert and Coachella Valley, as well as L.A., Orange and San Diego counties, where a lot of the concertgoers live.
HerpAlert told TMZ that they typically handle around 12 cases a day in Southern California, but in just the first two days of Coachella, the site serviced almost 250 patients as the STD swiftly made its way through the crowds.
Unfortunately, while poor, infected souls can get treatment for herpes, it is an incurable disease. Symptoms might not appear for weeks – or even years after you’re infected with the virus, so there could still be some unsuspecting Coachella attendees out there who are entirely naive to their sexual health issues.
The STD can cause small blisters and sores, as well as tingling or itching around your genitals, and can cause pain when you pee.
It’s a far cry from the sun-kissed, glitter-covered skin most festival goers aim for.
However, while it doesn’t sound at all pleasant, herpes.org report Professor George Kinghorn, an emeritus professor of sexual health, has explained:
To be infected with a herpes simplex virus is a state of normality. We tend to make this into a big deal instead of saying that to be infected with herpes virus is something that happens to all adults, some with symptoms and some of us without.
I wonder if any of the celebrity attendees got caught up in the STD craze…
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to [email protected].
Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.