Currently the treatment of genital herpes consists in taking an antiviral drug which makes it possible to control the duration and the severity of the symptoms but also to reduce the risk of transmission. “These oral medications are very effective and very safe, but they don’t work for everyone, and some patients find taking them every day difficult”says Dr. Lawrence Stanberry of the Columbia University Medical Center.
Three injections three weeks apart
The doctor and his team are therefore working on an experimental vaccine which would make it possible to control the herpes virus for at least a year. The researchers tested this device on 310 patients in 17 clinics in the United States. Three injections given three weeks apart reduce the genital lesions of the patients as well as the process of viral excretion which spreads the disease through sexual contact. “In this trial, people who received the vaccine saw the number of days that the virus was present in the genital tract reduced by 50%, which in theory can reduce transmission” insists the researcher.
“It can also change the nature of the relationship in a couple. If a patient has between 6 and 10 episodes of herpes a year, this inevitably has repercussions on his or her partner. If, once vaccinated, it drops to 1 or 2 crises per year, it necessarily improves the couple’s relationship”.
Called GEN-003, the vaccine is believed to induce T cells (a certain type of white blood cell) to recognize and kill the cells in which the herpes virus is harboring.
Experts admit it will take a few years and more clinical trials before this vaccine is available to the masses.
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