Herpes Treatment Could Help Keep HIV at Bay

Valtrex lowered both viruses in female genital tract, study found.

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
Wednesday, February 21, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Although it doesn't target HIV directly, a herpes drug may go a long way toward reducing HIV load in women who carry both viruses, a new study shows.

Treatment with valacyclovir (Valtrex) or a cheaper herpes antiviral, acyclovir, could also reduce HIV transmission during sexual intercourse, say international researchers who conducted the trial in Africa.

"Our results open a new avenue and raise hopes for HIV control (both prevention and care) in a period where new tools are desperately needed," said lead researcher Dr. Nicolas Nagot, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The findings are published in the Feb. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

AIDS experts have long recognized the deadly partnership between the herpes simplex virus (HSV) and HIV.

"You can imagine that if you have genital herpes, the ulcers that are associated with that could act as a direct gateway through which the HIV could travel," explained Dr. Rowena Johnston, vice president of research at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), based in New York City.

Furthermore, active genital herpes infection, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, causes the body's immune system to send a rush of activated T-cells to the area of herpes activity. "Once these cells are activated and busy trying to find the herpes, their activation means that they are in the exact state they need to be in for HIV to infect them," explained Johnston.

On the flip side, HIV can debilitate the immune system and thereby encourage herpes flare-ups, said another infectious disease expert, Dr. Philip Keiser, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

"The number of outbreaks of HSV in someone who is HIV are much higher," he said. "So, the two viruses are clearly co-factors; they both stimulate each other."

In some African countries, the problem is compounded by the fact that more than 60 percent of adults are thought to be infected with the herpes virus, Johnston said. By contrast, the U.S. rate of genital herpes infection is about one in five, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.