The Reason Herpes has no Cure

Hearing about the possibility of getting a viral infection which has no cure of course calls for extreme caution and helps us be very careful, so today, let us together get into the world of Herpes and learn what we need to be cautious about, as well as what we should get into fully.

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According to the Greek medicine system, herpes means to crawl or creep, and in the 18th century, herpes simplex virus was specified as a disease for women since it was more common amongst prostitutes back then. Then in the 19th century, it was discovered that the orolabial lesion was transferred to other people.

According to a report by Nahmias and Dawdle presented in 1960, there are two types of antigenic HSV depending on the different sites of viral infection. The two stereotypes of HSV are, HSV-1 and HSV-2 and they belong to the family Herpesviridae.

The Herpesviridae family is further classified into three subfamilies, we have the alpha-herpesviruses, beta Herpesviruses, and gamma-herpesviruses. HSV-1 and HSV-2 belong to the sun family of alpha-herpesviruses, they can infect a variety of hosts and they have a short replication cycle.

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Herpes simplex virus (HSV) known as herpes is a very common infection which is characterized by painful blisters or ulcers. It spreads majorly through skin to skin contact. Majority of people with herpes do not show symptoms, but the infection could cause painful blisters and ulcers.

HSV-2 is a more common cause of genital herpes, it can be acquired through genitalia to genitalia, or from the genitals to the mouth, or even through other forms of sexual contact.

While HSV cannot be cured, it can be treated, and the treatment was developed in 1960, especially drugs that are responsible for restricting viral replication. At first, it was an antiviral drug that was administered for the treatment of HSV, and it showed a better therapeutic efficacy and aesser dose of toxicity

Now, acyclovir (ACV) is used frequently to treat BSV-1 and HSV-2 infections, and this is as a result of it's accessibility, effectiveness, and tolerability. There are other approved antiviral medications that are also used for the treatment of skin lesions HSV-1 and HSV-2, examples are;famciclovir, valacyclovir, and acyclovir.

However, the problem remains the limited efficacy of the approved antiviral medications, as they only reduce the recovery period of infection by 1-2 days. In addition to this, viral resistance and side effects of these antiviral therapies creates great challenge in the treatment of HSV infection.

Using condoms correctly and other existing methods of protection would help reduce the risk of spreading genital herpes. Contacts with objects that have been in contact with saliva should as well be avoided, and this includes oral sex as well.

A lot of people with herpes shows no symptoms, so it is being passed across easily even without having the intention to do so. But when symptoms does happen, it comes in the form of fever, body aches, recurring blisters or ulcers, and a swollen lymph nodes.

The experienced symptoms may be different during a recurring episode than from the first time, and recurring episodes may not be as severe as thr first outbreak.

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Neonatal herpes is possible too, where a pregnant mother passed down the infection to her baby before, or during delivery, or immediately after the child is born. Although, this is a rare case, it can have very serious consequences on the newborn.

It has become very difficult to cure herpes due to the nature of the virus. The HSV virus can hide in the nerve cells of an infected person for a long time before it reappears or before the virus is reactivated.

Experts reveal that even if the antiviral drug taken destroys the active parts of the virus, it would only take a little amount of the virus to hide in the nerve cells and then becomes dormant, allowing the further existence of herpes virus in the body.

Before a permanent solution is gotten to the virus, then experts must understand the mechanism that enables the infection to hide, when this is understood, then treatment may be developed to target latent HSV and even progress towards getting a functional cure.

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For Further Studies

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https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-is-there-no-cure-for-herpes#faq

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/herpes-simplex-virus

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9966607/

https://hms.harvard.edu/news/what-enables-herpes-simplex-virus-become-impervious-drugs

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/sites/default/files/nih-herpes-simplex-strategic-plan-2023.pdf

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Hi, I am Tobi, a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. If you want to hear me speak about relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.