WEDNESDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) — Millions of Americans are afflicted by breakouts of unsightly cold sores, caused by the herpes simplex 1 virus, but new research is finally offering them the possibility of a cure.
Scientists at Duke University say they’ve unlocked the mystery of how herpes simplex 1 slips into dormancy and stays dormant — evading the drugs that might otherwise wipe it out.
Buoyed by that finding, the same team is testing an experimental agent that can “reawaken” the virus, so it might be flushed out into the open and eradicated.
The hope is that, “we could use the drugs that we already have, plus an effective immune system, to cure a person from infection,” explained lead researcher Jennifer Lin Umbach, a postdoctoral associate in Duke’s department of molecular genetics and microbiology. Read more…
According to E.J. Mundell