Health News
Herpes drug doesn't lower HIV infection risk

Feb 14, 2008, 05:01

U.S. scientists today reported a disappointing finding that the drug acyclovir used to treat people with genital herpes did not lower their risk of contracting HIV.

Earlier, scientists held a hope that herpes medications could provide an easy and effective way to cut the risk of HIV transmission around the world.

It has been known that infection with herpes simplex virus 2, which causes most genital herpes, doubles or even triples a person's odds of contracting HIV.

Scientists believed earlier genital sores caused by herpes infection provide a route for HIV to infect the body.  When herpes infection is treated, if this theory held true, then the odds of getting HIV infection would be reduced.

Surprisingly, the study showed 3.9 percent of those who received acyclovir in the trial ended up infected with HIV compared to 3.3 percent of those who did not get the drug.

This double-blind trial involving more than 3,000 herpes-infected people on three continents was conducted by Dr. Connie Celum at the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues.

Earlier a vaccine indicated for use to reduce the odds of HIV transmission ended up boosting the odds of the risk, prompting researchers to stop that trial earlier than planned.

Studies also showed microbicodes gels that women use in their vaginas to protect against HIV infections also proved to increase the risk of getting HIV in the users of these gels.

The researchers explained that inflammation lingers even after the herpes outbreak is halted.  Celum said HIV can easily attach to immune system cells in the inflamed tissues.

Celum presented the herpes trial in Boston at the Fifteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

The researchers have not given up, not just yet. They are suspecting that the dose used in the trial may not be high enough to ward off HIV infection.  Because of this, another trial is ongoing which used high doses.

The study participants include herpes-infected men who have sex with men in the United States and South America and herpes-infected women in Africa.