Herpes Testing Blog

Oral or genital herpes can be a nuisance to live with, but you may not be aware that it can also put your life at risk.  People with genital herpes need to be doubly careful about contracting HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, because of their body’s increased risk of exposure.

If you have open herpes sores, you are much more likely to become infected with HIV during sex, so you have to be careful.  HIV can be transmitted through semen, vaginal fluid, or blood, which means that if any of those come in contact with an open genital wart or cold sore, you run an extremely high risk of infection.

If you have herpes, and you suspect that your sexual partner might have HIV, then you should seriously consider getting yourself tested, either in a clinic, or with at at home HIV test.  It’s probably a good idea to go for the HIV test even if you don’t have herpes, if you suspect your partner might have HIV.

Having HIV together with herpes can wreak havoc on your body.  The effects of one can intensify the effects of the other.  Herpes can quicken the path from HIV to AIDS by encouraging the virus to replicate more quickly.  HIV also has an effect on herpes, and can lead to harsher herpes outbreaks, occurring more often.  An HIV stricken immune system simply can’t fight off herpes efficiently.

Treating genital herpes usually means going to your pharmacy to buy valtrex (or buying generic valtrex online), but having HIV can complicate matters.  If your HIV test shows that you’re positive, you may need to seek out alternatives in your herpes treatment.  The drug Foscavir, or a Vistide gel are possible alternatives to Valtrex treatment, especially if your HIV has made the herpes resistant to standard antiviral drugs.

For the complete article, please refer to http://www.pro-medics.com/

Doctors at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine have tested a gel that when applied topically in the vagina, may help prevent infection by both H.I.V. and herpes simplex virus.

The effectiveness of the gel, called PRO 2000 and made by Indevus Pharmaceuticals, was shown in a pilot study of 20 H.I.V.-infected women.

The study found that the gel significantly reduced virus levels while causing no inflammatory response, and a new study is under way to determine whether the gel causes any other side effects

A much larger study of  the gel has been financed and is to include more than 3,000 women.

Researchers have long sought such a treatment, and they want to be sure that “whatever drug makes it to the market will be safe.”

For the complete article, see http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F00E3D71E3DF93BA35750C0A9639C8B63&scp=2&sq=herpes%20gel&st=cse.