Category: Genital Herpes
Adults with shingles were about 30 percent more likely to have a stroke during a one-year follow-up than adults without shingles, in a study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The risk was even greater when the infection involved the eyes.
New research helps explain why infection with herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), which causes genital herpes, increases the risk for HIV infection even after successful treatment heals the genital skin sores and breaks that often result from HSV-2.
UCSF researchers have identified a new potential drug target for the herpes virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma, re-opening the possibility of using the class of drugs called protease inhibitors against the full herpes family of viruses, which for 20 years has been deemed too difficult to attain.
A recently completed international multi-center clinical trial has found that acyclovir, a drug widely used as a safe and effective treatment to suppress herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), which is the most common cause of genital herpes, does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission when taken by people infected with both HIV and HSV-2.
A topical microbicide that silences two genes can safely protect against genital herpes infection for as long as one week.
A study by a Montana State University researcher suggests a new avenue for developing a vaccine against genital herpes and other diseases caused by herpes simplex viruses.
A new study provides evidence that a herpes vaccine developed by a Harvard Medical School researcher is a strong candidate for testing in humans. The study, published online Dec. 14 in the Journal of Virology, compared three different experimental vaccines for herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), the virus that causes most cases of genital herpes.
Identifying asymptomatic people with genital herpes infection through targeted screening of high-risk groups may prevent disease transmission. However, widespread screening of pregnant women is unlikely to reduce the occurrence of herpes in newborns, according to an article in the January 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infects more than one-fifth of the United States population, but about 90 percent of those people are unaware that they are infected, since most do not experience any symptoms.
A nationwide trial is underway for a vaccine to prevent herpes infections. Approximately one out of four women in the United States has genital herpes. Symptoms are often subtle, and most people don't know they have herpes, but genital herpes is among the most common infectious diseases. Healthy women aged 18-30 may be eligible to participate in the trial.
For over 30 years, physicians have assumed that any expectant mother with genital herpes lesions at delivery must deliver her baby by Caesarian section to minimize chances of transmission of the disease to the infant, although there was no clinical or research information supporting that practice. A study by University of Washington physicians confirms that Caesarian section is indeed the way to go to prevent transmission of HSV (herpes simplex virus).
A pivotal efficacy trial of an experimental vaccine designed to prevent genital herpes in women began enrolling volunteers this week. The study will determine the vaccine's ability to prevent genital herpes disease in women who are free of two common types of herpes simplex viruses (HSV): HSV-1 and HSV-2. The trial will eventually enroll 7,550 women in at least 16 sites in the United States.
Scientists have shown for the first time how the virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma inhibits the body's immune response and causes cancer cells to grow through a technique called immune evasion. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, or KSHV,causes Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessel cells that often occurs in tissues under the skin or mucous membranes, and is the most common malignancy occurring among AIDS patients. KSHV belongs to the family of herpesviruses that includes the causes of genital herpes, cold sores and chickenpox. The same researchers who previously discovered KSHV examined the expression of a virus-derived cytokine (a hormone-like substance that regulates cells during an immune response) in KSHV and found it not only inhibits immune function, but also causes cancerous cells to grow
