A team of scientists from the University of Washington’s Virology Research Clinic in Seattle have confirmed that genital herpes can reactivate even if an infected person undergoes high dose antiviral therapy.
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Their findings was based on three trials that involved 113 patients who received antiviral therapy to treat genital herpes, or herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV—2). More explanation from
WebMD:
In the first study, the volunteers were randomly given a standard 400 mg, twice-daily dose of acyclovir or an inactive placebo pill for four weeks. After a one-week washout period, they switched to the active or placebo treatment for another four weeks.
The result: Swabs were 95% less likely to test positive for HSV-2 when a person was taking acyclovir. But even during treatment, people tested positive 3% of the time.
In the second and third studies, the researchers selected volunteers who suffered frequent genital herpes outbreaks. In study two, they took either 800 mg three-a-day, high-dose acyclovir or standard 500 mg daily doses of valacyclovir. Study three compared standard-dose valacyclovir against high-dose valacyclovir (1,000 mg three times daily). As in the first study, volunteers switched treatments after a one-week washout period.
The result: None of these very high doses of active anti-herpes drugs completely prevented genital shedding of infectious herpes virus. Even with high-dose valacyclovir, 3% of swabs carried herpes virus -- and patients tested positive 7% of the time.
The researchers believe that this discovery highlights the need for a new class of treatments to combat this common infection, which affects one in five people.