Herpes is a virus that can cause sores on the genitals, and it seems that there are more people affected with it that you would like to think. In a report by NBC News, it seems that two-thirds of the world's population (or 3.7 billion people under the age of 50) can be affected with the incurable virus.

According to the Public Library of Science journal, the herpes simplex1 virus can be transmitted mostly by oral sex. 

"The global burden of HSV-1 infection is huge," the WHO research team writes. "An estimated 140 million people aged 15-49 years were calculated to have prevalent genital HSV-1 infection globally in 2012," the World Health Organization research teams said.

However, the HSV1 virus is usually just annoying and painful, often caught via kisses in one's childhood. The more dangerous one is the HSV2 virus, which is also called genital herpes and the kind that many thinks may be the cause of sexually transmitted infections.

"The new estimates highlight the crucial need for countries to improve data collection for both HSV types and sexually transmitted infections, in general," Dr. Marleen Temmerman, WHO director of the Department of Reproductive Health and Research said.

It has been noted by WHO that an estimated 48 percent of women (or 179 million) and 39 percent of men (or 142 million) have HSV1 in the Americas and those are among the lowest rates in the world. In Africa, for instance, 87 percent of people have HSV-1 while in the Southeast Asia, the number is close to 60 percent.

However, people who have oral or genital herpes may not know that they have it at all, and may never will. "Most people who've been exposed to the virus and carry it are able to keep the virus at bay with their own immunity. These people will never develop a sore or a problem from it. Between 10% and 25% who are exposed will actually develop sores," The New York Daily News noted that an infectious disease expert from the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Pritish Tosh said.

With that in mind, individuals should be cautious before puckering up -- the HSV1 virus, for instance, can be spread easily through kissing, after all.

On a side note, this is the second time in a week that the WHO has alarmed the planet. As the New York Daily News noted, the organization recently revealed that bacon and other processed meat can potentially cause cancer.

What do you think of these discoveries, are you concerned about the news that WHO has been releasing lately?