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The secret of how the cold sore virus manages to persist for a lifetime in the human body may have been cracked by US scientists.

The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) can lie dormant in facial nerves, emerging periodically to cause sores.

A Duke University Medical Center team may have uncovered how it can reactivate itself from a dormant state.

The finding, published in the journal Nature, could eventually lead to new treatments.

When fighting a virus, the immune system relies heavily on the protein chemicals produced by the virus which it uses to help mark it for destruction.

Herpes viruses manage to evade the immune system by shutting down production of these proteins completely, and remaining in this state for long periods before starting to replicate again.

Wake-up call

This is why patients, once infected, have occasional flare-ups of cold sores or genital herpes, and can never get rid of the infection completely.

However, there is one thing that HSV-1 does produce, the precise role of which has puzzled scientists for some years.

It is a type of RNA, a single strand of genetic information copied from the DNA of the virus. In other viruses, these RNAs make proteins that are useful to the virus, but in herpes, this was not the case.

The Duke University team suspected that it somehow helped keep the virus in its dormant state, and studied what happened to these “latent RNAs” in mice.

They found they were broken down into even smaller strands, called microRNAs, and these appeared to block the production of proteins which reactivated the virus.

Effectively, they were helping keep the virus in its dormant state.

Professor Bryan Cullen, who led the research, said: “We have provided a molecular understanding of how HSV-1 hides and then switches back and forth between the latent and active phases.”

He said a drug based on blocking these microRNAs could in theory “wake up” all the viruses, making them vulnerable to antiviral therapy, and raising the possibility of a cure for herpes.

Professor Roger Everett, a Medical Research Council virologist based in Glasgow, said that the research represented a step forward in a “long-standing problem” in the field.

The next step, he said would be to see what happened in an animal using a virus engineered to block production of these RNAs.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7483832.stm

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The preceding decade brought a new life-threatening disease into the vocabulary of every nation. AIDS (the acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is primarily transmitted as a venereal disease. First discovered in homosexual males, the syndrome quickly spread, soon encircling the world. Millions of women acquired the infection from their bisexual partners. Growing exponentially around our globe, this disease is caused by a virus called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). A similar virus is now found in cows (the bovine immunodeficiency virus).

Drug abusing men and women pick up the virus from contaminated needles. Many hemophiliacs have acquired the infection from blood product transfusions. Sporadic case reports of hospital workers and physicians have raised the spectrum of risky needle sticks, surgery, and invasive medical procedures. Gloves are mandated for medical contact with all body fluids (called universal precautions). Latex is not adequate protection, however. It frequently contains microscopic pores, and the virus can pass through easily.

From their first knowledge of AIDS, physicians in hospitals began to practice isolation precautions. Lobbying tactics from homosexual advocates quickly pushed legislators into enacting laws preserving the confidentiality of AIDS carriers. This has increased the risks to dentists, paramedics, physicians, and all health care providers, who may not even know their patient is carrying a lethal virus. Most hospitals today refuse to isolate HIV carriers, ignoring its contagiousness and the scientific research provided.

There is no known cure for HIV infections. Most of the victims eventually develop full blown AIDS. This may develop in several ways. Sudden infection, with drug-resistant tuberculosis or pneumonia caused by an opportunistic germ such as Pneumocystis carini, may befall. This directly reveals the devastation of the patient’ s immune system. Lymphocyte counts are dangerously low; and the hapless patient must be supported with powerful and expensive drugs, usually for the rest of his life.

Unusual forms of cancer, such as Kaposi‘s sarcoma, may appear. One dentist, carrying several of these lesions in his mouth, continued to treat patients. Several of them eventually developed AIDS and died. This disease, as mentioned above, has run rampant in the militant homosexual population. Could there be any better warning to modern man? The Creator’s plan for marriage, one man and one woman, mated and committed for life, is the only safe course for pure sexual harmony as well as disease prevention.

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Venereal diseases are increasing in frequency today, due to the lack of moral restraint in society. Gonorrhea has been discussed in previous blog, but several other types are commonly seen. Syphilis is a chronic infection of the entire body, caused by Treponema pallidum and is usually sexually transmitted. After an incubation period of about three weeks, a primary sore develops with enlargement of the nearby lymph nodes.

Generalized rash on the skin develops in the secondary stage and after a latent period of many years, the tertiary stage can develop with progressive destructive lesions in the muscle, bone, aorta, or central nervous system. Although primary treatment with fever therapy was formerly effective in cases of syphilis, any current outbreak should be confirmed with appropriate blood (serologic) tests, a dark—field microscopic examination, and specific therapy as recommended by public health departments.

Other venereal infections include chancroid and lymphogranuloma venereum. These less common venereal disorders also must be treated definitively to prevent contagion.

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Knowledge of this widespread affliction of mankind has its root in Biblical history. Called “Hansen’s disease” today, this organism is closely akin to the tubercle bacillus and belongs to the Mycobacterium family. Ten to twenty million persons in the world are affected with leprosy. It is more common in tropical countries; in many third world nations 1-2% or more of the population are affected. Leprosy is frequently a family infection. Several different types of the disease are known.

Early leprosy is usually seen on the skin with pigmented plaques and patches demonstrating anesthesia. The tuberculoid leprosy develops later with larger raised lesions having no sensation (anesthesia) associated with large painful nerves. These may occur behind the elbow or knee and are associated with anesthesia in the affected limb. Contractures of the hands and foot drop (paralysis) are frequent. Trauma, especially from burns and splinters, and excessive pressure lead to the secondary infection, ulcers, and the loss of fingers and toes.

Lepromatous leprosy creates an unusual appearance of the face, often making the hapless victim appear like a lion. The skin is primarily involved and early symptoms are those of nasal stuffiness or nose bleeds. Saddle nose, due to perforation of the septum (the wall between the two nostrils) may occur while lymph nodes may enlarge painlessly.

Although neurological involvement is less common, this type is actually more contagious. Other types of leprosy are seen with variations of the above. Although a specific drug (Dapsone) is widely used today, in reality there is no complete cure. It is suspected on the basis of animal studies that some form of fever induction may prove the therapy of the future, with public health control measures and quarantine limiting the spread. For further information you may wish to contact the following: Leprosy Research Foundation, I1588 Lawton Court, Loma Linda, California 92354.

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Once a prime cause of death around the world, tuberculosis is seen today mainly in underdeveloped societies. Fear of recurrence in the Western world is surfacing, especially in military barracks, prisons, inner city ghettos, and communities of immune suppressed men (AIDS). Pasteurization of milk has reduced greatly the incidence of bovine tuberculosis, which a generation ago commonly affected the intestinal tract. The lungs are now most often afflicted with development of characteristic abnormalities detectable by X-ray.

Symptoms of tuberculosis include fatigue, night sweats, cough, sputum production, shortness of breath, and rarely the coughing up of blood. During all of these activities droplets are sprayed from the lungs, which may contain tubercle bacilli. Using a tissue to trap the aerosolized particles, and disposing of it immediately will prevent most of the contagion due to tuberculosis.

In chronic pulmonary tuberculosis, chest x-rays show scars with scattered calcium deposits. These, however, during a time of lowered resistance may reactivate, producing illness and contagion once again. The TB skin test, when positive, indicates a person has previously contacted tuberculosis germs and that his immune system recognizes and sets up a battle against them. PPD (purified protein derivative) or Tine tests for tuberculosis are helpful screening procedures to detect active infection in the community. Public health laboratories then will perform sputum cultures and other needed follow-up measures in the detection and treatment of this illness.

Avoidance of contact with other people, particularly in the spread of the respiratory form, and hygienic healing measures, especially sunshine, adequate rest and proper diet, may produce a natural cure of most cases. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis involving bones and kidneys has responded to prolonged exposure to sunlight in some European health centers.

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