Promising AIDS drug may also prevent herpes

An AIDS-preventing medication may also help treat patients with herpes, according to findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

In 2007, a drug called Isentress was approved to be used for AIDS therapy, and recent research has determined that patients with herpes may also experience relief of their symptoms when taking it. In fact, health officials hope this discovery will transform current research for herpes therapies.

This is because the drug blocks a protein that helps the herpes virus to replicate and spread throughout the body.

The current clinical trial showed that when the virus proteins are exposed to Isentress, the medication is able to stave off protein development and virus replication.

Between 2003 and 2006, an estimated 10 percent of all individuals aged 20 to 29 were diagnosed with genital herpes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the deadliest sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), the AIDS virus leads to more than 18,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, health experts report.