Treating Herpes May Lower Incidence of HIV

For women who are infected with both herpes and HIV, treating the former may go a long way in reducing the overall impact of HIV.

A common antiviral medication, valacyclovir (Valtrex), used to treat patients with herpes may help to lower the rate of HIV transmission through sexual intercourse. Moreover, it seems to at least temporarily reduce levels of HIV in the body.

"Our data show that treating herpes was successful in lowering the HIV plasma load, suggesting that, perhaps long term, herpes treatment may be beneficial to help prevent the fast progression of HIV disease," said Dr. Philip Mayaud, study author from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a virus that can be passed from one infected person to another during unprotected sexual intercourse. Often people with herpes do not know that they have the disease because it doesn't always cause symptoms right away. However, patients with active herpes infections have blisters in the genital region that may break and cause sores.

HIV is transmitted through exposure to an infected person's bodily fluids. Therefore, if someone with herpes is also infected with HIV, the risk of transmission is much greater because of these open sores. Additionally, when a person is infected with herpes, the immune system sends a large bulk of cells to the genital region to help fight off the infection. However, these cells are often in the perfect state to be infected with HIV, causing people with both infections to have a harder time managing their diseases.

Therefore, researchers wanted to find out if treatment for herpes would also lower the incidence of HIV transmission in people with both diseases.

For the study, researchers recruited 136 women from the African nation of Burkina Faso who had both HIV and the most common form of the herpes virus. Some of the women were given the standard dose of valacyclovir for 12 weeks and were monitored for levels of both viruses.

After the treatment period, these women had fewer blisters and sores, not to mention overall lower levels of HIV in the bloodstream.

"The results of the trial are striking," said Dr. Nicholas Nargot, lead study author from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Nargot and colleagues emphasize that these results would probably not aid in the treatment of HIV, but it seems to have the potential to help reduce the amount of HIV transmission and help patients manage their disease.

More work needs to be done, but this could be a new means of trying to stem the tide of HIV infections globally.

"Behavioral interventions are not always successful, as knowledge does not necessarily translate into sexual behavior change," said Nargot. "Therefore, innovative methods that target the susceptibility of individuals to acquire or transmit HIV are also required."

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