Article Submitted by: martine moore
Wednesday, 06 May 2009
| According to one estimate, around a quarter of American women are suffering from Herpes infection. That's 1 in every 4 women in the country. Considering the prevalence and highly infectious nature of Herpes, efforts are underway to create a Herpes vaccine. After all, prevention is better than cure - although for Herpes, there happens to be no cure. Controversies And Challenges The search for Herpes vaccine has its detractors, sponsors, and a fair share of controversy. While the vaccine is badly needed (not only is Herpes highly infectious, it causes mental distress, raises risks of HIV infection, and it can ruin relationships), researchers complain of lack of sponsorship and interference in the process. Herpes vaccine research has other problems as well. The Herpes Simplex viruses, that cause oral and genital Herpes, are tenacious thanks to their genetic makeup. Where other viruses show minimal mutation to adapt to host cells, Herpes virus mutation is more complex, and more effective. This makes it difficult to develop a vaccine that can prevent virus growth while being safe for humans at the same time. There have been false alerts occasionally, vaccine trials that showed promise under laboratory conditions but failed during more stringent testing on human tests. The failures have been costly, and have discouraged pharma companies from taking up the challenge of developing an effective Herpes vaccine. Here are some of the major researches and trials underway to find an effective Herpes vaccine. Herpevac Herpevac has shown promise, though it is still in the development stages. The drawback: this Herpes vaccine is effective only in case of women, and women inoculated before they became sexually active at that. First studies have shown that the efficacy of the vaccine is at around 75%. Obviously, it is not enough to stop the infection from spreading among other populations at risk. Zostavax Herpes virus has many strains, and one happens to be the Herpes Zoster, which causes pain, retinitis, and other complications in people aged over 70. Zostavax trials have shown a 50% prevention rate - not very encouraging considering that the vaccine becomes ineffective for older populations. A weaker version of Zostavax is used as vaccination against chickenpox in children.Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
About The Author:
Iknowherpes is the best place to get information about Herpes medicine and Herpes vaccine. For further information on Cold Sore medicine and Cold Sores Treatments please visit www.iknowherpes.com.
Iknowherpes is the best place to get information about Herpes medicine and Herpes vaccine. For further information on Cold Sore medicine and Cold Sores Treatments please visit www.iknowherpes.com.
