HSV-2
sa smith | August 18, 2010Hey, remember back in 2008, when I wrote a post on a neat idea in herpes vaccine design?
That paper was all ideas. Well, they just published a paper where they test some of the science of those ideas:
Herpes Simplex Virus 2 ICP0â Mutant Viruses Are Avirulent and Immunogenic: Implications for a Genital Herpes Vaccine
When most people think of 'herpes', they think of a 'social' disease. Yeah, the sores (wherever they crop up) are embarrassing, and its embarrassing telling your boyfriend/girlfriend about it, but its not like herpes kills anyone... right?
Well, no. Though its rare, babies born…
sa smith | February 15, 2010Last week I wrote about a disappointing study where they found that treating people infected with HIV-1 and HSV-2 with acyclovir didnt decrease their rates of HIV-1 transmission to their partners... even though they had lower HIV-1 viral loads, and fewer HSV-2 outbreaks.
Really disappointing.
Well, that same group reanalyzed their data from a different angle: The people who got acyclovir, how did that effect their progression to AIDS?
Daily aciclovir for HIV-1 disease progression in people dually infected with HIV-1 and herpes simplex virus type 2: a randomised placebo-controlled trial--
Our…
sa smith | February 9, 2010Acyclovir and Transmission of HIV-1 from Persons Infected with HIV-1 and HSV-2.
--Daily acyclovir therapy did not reduce the risk of transmission of HIV-1, despite a reduction in plasma HIV-1 RNA of 0.25 log10 copies per milliliter and a 73% reduction in the occurrence of genital ulcers due to HSV-2.
Well crap.
Im sure you all can figure out from that one sentence in that abstract why this is disappointing, but let me give you the back story.
Way back in the 1990s, scientists noticed that HIV-1 and HSV-2 were able to form this awful, unholy alliance. Proteins made by HSV-2 could increase…