Medications That Reduce Outbreaks

While there are many antiviral medications a full blown herpes vaccinehas not yet been positively produced. The medical treatments that are available only treat the symptoms that cause people discomfort and don’t necessarily attack herpes where it counts: in the blood cells. These antiviral medications work to reduce the virus from multiplying on the skin effectively reducing sudden outbreaks when they occur. These medications include Herpevac, ACAM-529, ImmunoVEX, and the new ICP0 which are among the more popular medications and work like a herpes vaccine.

The best chance we currently have is the ICP0 treatment. In that regard, the HSV-2 virus is impregnated with ICP0 (Cell Protein Zero) which strengthens the human body’s defense against the virus. The main objective of course is to remove the virus’s ability to penetrate beyond the usual bodily defenses. The risk, as can be expected, is that the medication is too strong which can actually bring on the herpes virus strain. Moreover, some medications are stronger than others. While ICP0 is a 100 times stronger than other treatments like Herpevac, studies indicate that they are equally safe despite their variant strengths.

To be clear, the HSV-2 virus is equal to that of the real virus and produces the same antibodies. The idea is that the HSV-2 virus will code 80 proteins which will hopefully engage 80 antibody responses. Since 79 of the proteins remain unaltered, the human body organically builds up antibodies to the real viral proteins. This leaves the body a 100 percent ready to fight the virus. In protein count contrast, the Herpevac vaccine is only encoded with 1 of 80 proteins. In realistic terms, the Herpevac vaccine only has a one percent chance that the virus will leave the body. The ICP0 has a far better chance at eradicating the virus from the body.

The man leading the research for the ICP0 vaccine is Dr. Halford of SIU School of Medicine. Dr. Halford is an associate professor of medical microbiology, immunology, and cell biology. He is currently developing the ICP0 to cripple the strength of the herpes virus while simultaneously empowering the human immune system to prevail. With the help of his colleague, this research also extends to include oral and ocular herpes. Their efforts will hopefully be soon realized as one in ten people will likely be infected with some form of herpes by the time they are married. We are now at a critical point in time in the evolution of this virus and something must be done.