Genital herpes is NOT a genetic disease. Genital herpes is an infectious disease. In general, an infectious disease can be caused by a pathogenic organism (viruses, bacteria, fungi, worms, parasites) that can invade the body and cause infection. Some infectious diseases can be contagious between people while others are acquired from the person's surroundings but are not spread from one person to another.
Racial Details for Genital herpes: HSV-2 infection also is more common in blacks (45.9%) than in whites (17.6%). (Source: excerpt from Genital Herpes: DSTD)
Inheritance of Genital herpes refers to whether the condition is inherited from your parents or "runs" in families. The level of inheritance of a condition depends on how important genetics are to the disease. Strongly genetic diseases are usually inherited, partially genetic diseases are sometimes inherited, and non-genetic diseases are not inherited. For general information, see Introduction to Genetics.
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