Because the herpes simplex virus and the herpes zoster virus that causes shingles becomes mingled with one’s DNA, vaccine research has been especially fast and furious both in the US and abroad.
HSV Research
European scientists have been effectively using a genital herpes vaccine for quite a number of years. However, their findings have been variable and sketchy at best with the literature inconclusive. No one has reported a “cure” for the disease. What is clear is that a lot about this disease is unknown, particularly how the immune system function affects outbreaks. It is believed that for most HSV patients, an outbreak is preceded by some sort of trigger—stress, illness—something that suppresses the body’s immune system. In this state, the virus can replicate itself. Scientists and physicians still want to know—“Why?”
The recent advances of medical technology have made it possible to map the HSV genome which promises a fuller understanding of a DNA-rooted virus.
Ongoing study and observation has continued with the use of suppressive drug regimens. A suppressive therapy is targeted to HSV patients with frequent and intense viral outbreaks. There may be evidence that such a treatment aids in minimizing the characteristic viral shedding—the ability of the virus to remain in the skin’s cells regardless of outbreak. The results of treatment such as this are important to couples, especially those clinically referred to as “discordant”—where one suffers HSV and the other does not. Does a suppressive drug therapy make sexual contact safer for the non-HSV partner?
Shingles Research
A shingles vaccine study was begun a few years ago by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in an attempt to find out if a stronger version of the vaccine currently being given for chickenpox can be effective in fighting shingles. Both shingles and chickenpox are borne of the same virus, varicella zoster. A complication with shingles vaccine studies is that research cannot begin with lab animals since varicella zoster is a disease indicative to humans.
Besides this vaccine research, other organizations are offering a solid front in research, targeting especially the symptoms and conditions that are often bundled with and out-survive an outbreak of shingles, especially post-herpetic neuralgia, an intense, uncomfortable pain along certain nerve paths. This type of lingering malaise appeals to neurologic study, immunology study, and studies in the body’s control mechanisms as it ages, among others.
