A Breakthrough in the Prevention of Herpes
There are many types of herpes viruses. At some point in our lives all of us have contracted it, usually as children with chicken pox or as adults if we develop shingles. At least 45 million Americans age 12 and older live with herpes simplex type 2- which causes genital herpes. In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 21 % of sexually active women have it; analyzing the numbers in terms of race, 16 % of Caucasian women and 48 % of African American women are infected with one of the ten most commons STD`s. The risk is greater for women because unlike AIDS, herpes is also transmitted from skin to skin contact not just through semen or vaginal fluid. Even when a condom is used, it is only effective about 50% of the time and can be transmitted when neither partner is showing any symptoms such as sores.
It now looks as though there is light at the end of the tunnel. A 2010 clinical trial completed in South Africa shows new forms of protection emerging. Thanks to a study performed by the National Institutes of Health, Gilead Sciences Inc. and European Universities, a microbicide gel originally developed to fight AIDS in Africa has proved useful for lowering the incidence of herpes in women. During the trial run at an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa the tenofovir gel showed promise by reducing H.I.V. infections by 39% with the unexpected bonus of the reduction of herpes by a whopping 51%.
When taken as a pill, tenofovir hinders H.I.V. infections but not herpes. In order for it to be successful against the herpes virus, it must penetrate the vaginal wall in which tissue concentrations are up to 100 times higher with a gel than with a pill. The gel works by entering human tissue and converting into a form that disrupts an enzyme the herpes virus requires for self-duplication. For more information or to find support, talk to your healthcare professional and please visit the American Social Health Association at:www.ashastd.org/