Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are part of a larger family of herpesviruses. They are very common, affecting around 90% of adults worldwide and can cause painful sores in or around the mouth or genitals. Unfortunately, HSV infections have no cure and people must control their outbreaks with medicines. It will still be a long time before these experiments lead to the first human trials of gene therapy to cure herpes.
Jerome estimates that there are at least three years to go. Herpes can hide in nerve cells for a long time before becoming active, making it difficult to find a cure. But why isn't there a vaccine or cure for one of the most dreaded (and common) STIs? And are we closer to finding out? Antiviral medications to treat herpes have existed since the 1960s, but until now, no effective cure or vaccine has been found. The ability of herpes to go unnoticed has thwarted efforts to create effective vaccines or antiviral drugs that prevent or completely cure the infection.
Advances in herpes cure research over the past five years are largely due to a series of improvements in gene-editing tools. Medications have come a long way in helping to suppress herpes and it is possible that it can be cured in the future. In the case of herpes, a cure would completely eliminate the herpes virus from your body, while a vaccine would treat or prevent it. Keith Jerome began to explore the idea that lifelong herpes virus infections could be cured by using gene therapy tools to cut DNA.
Currently, there is no cure for HSV-1 or HSV-2, although people with both types of herpes can take antiviral medications such as Valtrex to control their symptoms and reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their partners. There is currently no cure for the virus, but there are treatments that can reduce the symptoms and infectiousness of the disease.
