You wait for years for a herpes vaccine trial to be run in the UK and then two turn up at once. Herpes simplex Until February 29th, you have a chance to join the GSK vaccine trial which is being conducted in hospitals in Brighton, Liverpool, central London and Southampton. However, at this stage you might have to go on a waiting list. The waiting list is worth being on because the first thing that participants will be asked to do, is to swab themselves twice a day for 28 days. This is to prove that they can comply with the requirements of the vaccine trial. As people drop out, because they can ..read more

If you have had the virus for a while, we expect you will have symptoms less often and more mildly. But we do get people calling our helpline who ask “Why have my herpes episodes got more frequent, now?” This is a fairly common question. Typically, the caller will tell the helpliner something like this: “I’ve had it for 8 years now. After the first year or so, I hardly got any symptoms. Maybe once or twice a year. Now, this year, for about the last six months, have had breakout after breakout. Why? And what can I do about it?” The good news We can tell the caller that the good news is that the ..read more

A common question by callers on our helpline (0845 123 2305) is often “Why didn’t I catch herpes on my face and genitals? We did oral sex as well as regular sex. So surely I should have seen symptoms in both places instead of only on my genitals.”   We have not found any medical papers on this topic, although “having herpes on genitals as well as face” is something that is mentioned in reported case histories of individual patients. Two possible reasons that I have thought up: Scientifically known that herpes simplex type 1 is common on the face: 1. You already had one type on the face. T ..read more

You may see ‘Are they working on a cure for herpes?’ on forums and in internet questions. The answer is a resounding “YES.” The medical world is well aware that there area many people who have too many recurrences. And some of them know how badly the ‘idea of having herpes’ affects society – especially in America. There are fortunes to be made… Weekly, the HVA is sent links to newly published scientific articles which include the word ‘herpes’. We get between 23 and 156 each week. Some are about herpes varicella or herpes zoster – but plenty are about herpes simplex too. Most papers report res ..read more

The biggest perk of this job by far is making a difference in people’s lives and giving people the tools to reclaim their confidence and their sex lives. Occasionally, people who call us in a state of anxiety about telling a partner ring us back to let us know how it went (something we encourage, we love a happy ending) but for the first time yesterday I had a two-for-one. A woman in her 30s (I don’t know her name but let’s call her Suzie) who I’d spoken to a few days before, rang me back to thank me. She wanted to tell me that she told her partner, and all had gone well. Not perfectly, but go ..read more

SPHERE magazine is 16 pages in A4 print version, and the e-version is in large text, single column, for easy reading on your phone. Subscribe to have it sent to you by post or by email Text and photo of woman with bike Each magazine has pages of medical research on this virus, and new facts about herpes simplex treatments and herpes vaccines. In this magazine: How the two different shingles vaccines affected my herpes simplex differently. “Selling Sickness” – how to make a hype! A ‘robotic’ view of dating in 2023. Hydration – how it helps your health. And lots more! Get it sent to you by post ..read more

BBC South East reports that “Raffy Holliday, from Deal in Kent, tested positive for the HHV6 strain in hospital, and he died in March,” but this was not herpes simplex: parents don’t need to be worried about this. The reporters don’t explain that HHV-6 – commonly called roseola – is not ‘herpes’ in the usual sense. When anyone says ‘herpes’ people think of genital herpes. The reporters didn’t check to find that there are 9 different conditions caused by 9 different herpes viruses. Other well-known herpes viruses are chickenpox (HHV-3) and glandular fever (HHV-4). Infections with human her ..read more

“Mothers should not be alarmed by these tragic rare cases – a repeat is almost impossible”, says Herpes Viruses Association For a woman to be infected with herpes simplex during a Caesarean-section is one of the rarest possible medical accidents. For it to happen twice in the same geographical area required a unique set of circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated. Lessons have been learned and treatment guidelines will be updated to prevent another similar tragedy. The Herpes Viruses Association was shocked to hear that two women died from internal herpes simplex infections following dis ..read more

Since 2020, everyone can have free prescriptions for treatments for all STIs and HIV. Make sure any antiviral prescription from a GP is endorsed with ‘FS.’ There is no need for the GP to write anything else on it. From the prescribing team in the Dept. of Health and Social Care: This is to “enable prescribers to endorse the FP10 prescription form to show the pharmacist that the item(s) prescribed are for free-of-charge treatment for a sexually transmitted infection (STI)… Because we understand that treatment for STIs is increasingly being provided by prescriptions from GPs and we want to make ..read more

Dr Ruth Itzhaki Dr Ruth Itzhaki has been working on a possible link between cold sores and the development of Alzheimer’s for a long time. Now she is suggesting it is time to investigate the use of antivirals in mid-life, with the view of preventing Alzheimer’s later on. She says “We discovered in 1991 that in many elderly people HSV1 is also present in the brain. And in 1997 we showed that it confers a strong risk of Alzheimer’s disease when present in the brain of people who have a specific gene known as Apoe-e4.” She adds ”The likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease is 1 ..read more