Beer Pong Gives You Herpes

July 21, 2008 - 1:30 pm By COED Staff

Unprotected beer pong play is the cause of a significant increase in the transmission of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), which causes cold sores. According to the Center for Disease Control, reports of the virus are up 230-percent from 2007 in people ages 17 to 21, and it’s all from sharing cups. Because of the dramatic increase in the illness, universities and parents are beginning to take notice.

From Bannedinhollywood.com:

“This epidemic is something we should pay close attention to. We’re aware that we cannot outright prevent [beer pong], so we have provided new red cups available to all students in the dorms,” said President of Arizona State University, Michael M. Crow.

And you can always play a different game. According to CDC spokesman, Dr. Cole Desorio, “Flip cup is great because each individual has their own cup. If it’s absolutely necessary to play beer pong, use the waterfall method. Many young adults, when asked if they practice safe pong, responded that they rinse the ball after it bounces off the table.”

First of all, it’s awesome that a doctor at the CDC knows what “waterfall” means. Second, how f**king dumb do you have to be to think that washing off the ball is going to make a herpes-lick of difference when it comes to spreading diseases from one person to the next. C’mon people, you’re smarter than that! You know, or not…

[Props to SI.com for this gem.]

UPDATE: This story has since been revealed as a hoax.

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42 Comments on "Beer Pong Gives You Herpes"

  1. doctor says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  6:59 am 

    you have a low IQ.

  2. John Thomas says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  7:34 am 

    LOL Beer Pong rocks Especially when played with hot chicks!

    http://www.FireMe.To/udi

  3. blub says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  8:16 am 

    God, how i wish the waterfall method was only that.

  4. abbott says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  9:43 am 

    The doctor was saying that by kids responding that they rinse the balls off they do not understand the idea of “safe beer pong” because they don’t even know there is a problem. They see a problem with a dirty ball and not sharing cups, the thought of spreading disease from one person to another didn’t even enter their heads. You should probably think things through before you make fun of them.

  5. water pong says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  10:14 am 

    This is exactly the reason I play with water in the cups…just treat it like any other drinking game, take a sip from your own beer and make sure your beer is finished by games end…
    A) no ball cleaning
    B) no herpes

  6. p'08 says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  11:56 am 

    You guys are idiots.

  7. bob says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  1:06 pm 

    get your balls wet

  8. iain says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  1:20 pm 

    lick my bonch

  9. Jessica says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  3:53 pm 

    Beer pong might give you herpes, but this beer pong video will make you all warm and tingly…

    http://www.vat19.com/dvds/trailertheater.cfm?productID=port-o-pong

  10. Karman says:
    Tue, 22nd Jul 2008  10:54 pm 

    I love beer bont so what???

    I’ve had herpies before and I’ll probably get it again! but at least its cureable. I hate ppl who hate on shit they don’t even know about. Fuck it i’m loving life adn living it…. your know your a light weight if you can’t deal wit it bioooootchesss!

  11. Jane says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  1:01 am 

    herpes is not curable dumbass

  12. Lea says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  1:57 am 

    I agree with you, Jane. Karman, you are a dumbass. Once you have Herpes, even if it’s just Type 1, you have it for life. Sometimes you get breakouts, which you would call ‘getting it again.’ ‘I hate people who hate on shit they don’t even know about.’ Check your facts before you post something. Also, quit spreading Herpes to the people you play pong with, idiot, and use water in the cups.

  13. Karman says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  8:55 am 

    Dear Jane & Lea,

    You are the idiots. My sister had herpes for about 3 months when she was 15yrs old and it transfered to me somehow. I didn’t get it from BEER PONG and it won’t transfer through beer pong. The author of this article is a fear monger who’s trying to make flip cup more popular. The scary thing is… It’s working.

    Herpes = Curable. Take if from me, i used to have it!

  14. Jessica says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  9:31 am 

    So Karman makes out with his sister? Sick…

  15. Kat says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  11:24 am 

    Karman,

    There is NO cure for herpes (yet). Current herpes treatments can only prevent outbreaks. And if your sister had a herpes outbreak for 3 months, and it somehow transferred to you (I’m assuming you didn’t make out with your sister), what makes you think it can’t be transmitted by sharing a cup with an infected person in the middle of an outbreak?? More than 50% of the population has herpes without knowing it anyways, so this wouldn’t really stop me from playing beer pong (although playing with water in the cups sounds like a good alternative).

  16. Karman says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  11:36 am 

    She was a half sister you dicks!

  17. Bogus says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  2:10 pm 

    It looks like this is a bogus story. No one at the CDC could verify or find information about Dr Desario stating anything about “Beer Pong” and herpes.

  18. dontworryaboutit says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  8:04 pm 

    woooow

  19. dontworryaboutit says:
    Wed, 23rd Jul 2008  8:05 pm 

    woooooooooooooow

  20. You are all morons says:
    Thu, 24th Jul 2008  9:55 am 

    There is a difference between mouth herpes and viral herpes. The only way you could get viral herpes (the uncurable one) would be if your opponents were sticking their genitals into the glass you drank out of.

    BTW – when that starts happening, I don’t think it’s “beer pong” anymore…

  21. Patrick says:
    Thu, 24th Jul 2008  10:19 am 

    I have played thousands of games of beer pong and im still herpes free. I probably should work on safe sex before safe beer pong. Stupid article meant to scare people … hardly any risk

  22. Cole says:
    Thu, 24th Jul 2008  11:01 am 

    Guys – come on! This is SATIRE! (Dr. Cole Desorio? PLEASE! If you still don’t get it, say it out loud)

  23. Crunchy says:
    Thu, 24th Jul 2008  1:26 pm 

    I love how this fake article is actually scaring the shit out of people. Look at all of these terrified users hahahahahaha This is the funniest fake news since DFT NEWS from Digitalfuntown.com . . . Effective as hell

    http://www.digitalfuntown.com/homepage.php

  24. Beth says:
    Thu, 24th Jul 2008  8:10 pm 

    Karman, you’re a total piece of shit.

  25. Philip says:
    Thu, 24th Jul 2008  9:57 pm 

    Maybe if i curse enough, people will think im right!
    Herpes, in any form, is not curable. You wont always have outbreaks, but it is there for the rest of your life.

  26. Josh says:
    Fri, 25th Jul 2008  1:43 am 

    The way we do it is to fill cups up with water, and just drink from our own cans/bottles/mixed drinks on the side. Sanitary pong at its finest. CMU.

  27. me says:
    Fri, 25th Jul 2008  4:07 pm 

    all you dumb mother fuckers who think stds are a game look at this shit……http://www.astradur.is/menu/kynsjukdomar/images/herpes.jpg……http://missinglink.ucsf.edu/lm/DermatologyGlossary/img/Dermatology%20Glossary/Glossary%20Clinical%20Images/Herpes_Simplex_tongue-XX.jpg….http://www.acponline.org/graphics/bioterro/perianal_herpes.jpg….http://herpesfriends.org/Herpes-genitalis-female.jpg…how would you like that to happen to someone you care about because you dumb fucks portray stds as a fucking joke

  28. Cap is your Hero says:
    Sat, 26th Jul 2008  1:32 am 

    -There IS no cure for Herpes.
    -There is no definitive yearly statistic on the Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1) or Type 2 (HSV-2), or yearly statistic on the HPV virus (genital warts) from the CDC to back the article’s claim (or at least I have yet to find it from their site).
    -The virus is transmitted from mouth to mouth, ass to mouth, mouth to dick, dick to ass, dick to vagina, vagina to mouth, through skin-to-skin contact, mucous membrane, or through other bodily fluids.
    -You can pass or receive the virus when the sore is visible, or when it is dormant. Sometimes people who have it never realize it because of premature symptoms.
    -and finally… there is NO cure for herpes.
    -But there are suppressant drugs available for outbreak treatment. You’ve seen the commercials.

    So… in relation to Beer-Pong, common sense would tell you that if the virus is passed through bodily fluids such as saliva (skin-to-cup and vice versa), I think it’s safe to say that drinking from cups which have been shared by many during several rounds of championship beer pong, and the fact that 500K-1mil new cases are estimated each year, and the fact that the virus is passed with/without any indication (either because the person does not know they have it, or the person who does have it is embarrassed to let people know they have it), then the chances of you catching the friendly foe who say’s “hello” every now and then sometimes on your lips and sometimes on your genitals, is probably more than likely. But we also know that there is no such a thing as common sense.

    But…this theory also does not only apply to beer pong. Think about sharing shot glasses, passing around that joint/cig or hookah, or simply making out, giving head, or having intercourse with that person (or persons) you just met!

    *Sigh…. Isn’t that a great breathe of relief?

    Better safe than sorry is my advice. But if you’re feeling lucky, and since we only live once (in college), then by all means… share the wealth!!!

    Beer pong anyone?

    http://www.cdc.gov/std/Herpes/STDFact-Herpes.htm
    http://herpes.emedtv.com/genital-herpes/genital-herpes-statistics.html

  29. amelia says:
    Sat, 26th Jul 2008  2:25 pm 

    I think I got mono from playing beer pong…but i still do it at every party! lol

  30. Dave says:
    Wed, 30th Jul 2008  11:57 pm 

    This might be a fake article but yeah, it’s true.

  31. Alan says:
    Thu, 31st Jul 2008  12:55 pm 

    Geez…I wish we would get red cups for free, that would save a dumptruck full of cash…
    Until then costco $10.99 for 250 cups…
    Go Gauchos

  32. Fred S says:
    Thu, 31st Jul 2008  6:18 pm 

    Just found this…
    Beer Pong Hoax – Play Pong Toss for Wii just in case!
    Jul-23 2008
    I would like to thank everyone that sent in the following letter. Just out of curiosity we called the CDC and they claimed that they never made those statements. While this is a great excuse to play Pong Toss instead, the article is indeed a hoax.

  33. Chad says:
    Fri, 29th Aug 2008  4:41 pm 

    Go Gauchos

  34. heidi says:
    Tue, 24th Feb 2009  9:25 pm 

    people are idiots sometimes, but if you are stupid enough to drink out of a cup that someone else drank from then whatever happens to you is your own fault it is called stupidity,hopefully people learn from their dumb mistakes.

  35. you suck says:
    Fri, 6th Mar 2009  12:59 am 

    Recent news stories about an alleged CDC study showing a possible link between the drinking game, Beer Pong, and herpes simplex 1, the virus that causes cold sores, are false. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not publish the referenced article. For more information please contact CDC′s Division of Media Relations at 404-639-3286.

    http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2009/s090226.htm

    COME ON PEOPLE

  36. Guy who slept with big black chick says:
    Fri, 6th Mar 2009  7:39 pm 

    Beer pong may not directly give you STDs, but if you seen the chick I slept with after playing beer pong you’d think twice before playing.
    PBR rules!

  37. Will says:
    Mon, 16th Mar 2009  8:58 pm 

    The disease center came out and said themselves this story is a hoax. You cannot get herpes from playing beer pong lol

  38. Tommy says:
    Wed, 8th Apr 2009  5:56 am 

    how would you not be able to get herpes from pong? you are drinking from the same cups! this is a rather easy way to transfer the disease duh!!! if a ball is infected it will not be disinfected by dipping it in the water cup other wise what moron would spend money on disinfectant spray if you can just use water which infact can spread it to other areas of the beer pong area if spilt or while shakeing off the excess water whether it lands in the cup or on your partner. herpes can be contracted casually and is dont so through any sort of contact or use of the same drinking container!! your arguements above are childish and not well informed, reading into a page of information prior to leaving a blog entry is easy and simply common sence!!

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