Mohr, PhD , professor of microbiology. As with all herpes virus infections, HSV-1 infections are cureless and lifelong. The virus burrows into the nervous system, nesting deep inside the base of the brain, in an area of nerve cells called the trigeminal ganglion.
Chao, PhD , professor of cell biology, and neuroscience and physiology. The findings may have implications for understanding other, more harmful pathogens that also exhibit latency, like varicella zoster, a herpes virus that causes chicken pox and shingles, and even tuberculosis and HIV. Cohen, MD , professor of ophthalmology who is leading a federally funded, multicenter study of varicella zoster infections of the eye, a potentially serious complication that can result in blindness and chronic pain.
Cohen, who was not involved in the herpes simplex research. Currently, infections with both HSV-1 and varicella zoster are treated with antiviral drugs. These medications block the virus from replicating, which can eliminate symptoms of infections, but they are not a cure. Research , Press Releases. NYU Langone researchers used a human cell mechanism hijacked by coronaviruses to block its reproduction. The hominin lived at the same time — and in the same area, especially around waterholes — as our direct ancestor, Homo erectus.
Homo erectus was quite possibly faster and smarter than its lumbering big-jawed ugly cousin and may well have been capable of killing and consuming it — completing the infective pathway for genital herpes. Interestingly, a related herpes virus — HSV1, which causes cold sores — seems to have been present in our ancestors since the time of the split with the chimp common ancestor, and may, the researchers suggest, have initially provided a degree of immunity to HSV2.
However, during its long period of exile, HSV2 appears to have mutated in such a way that it was able to adapt to proto-human conditions when eventually reintroduced. In the case of early hominins, this means through consumption or intercourse — or possibly both. Related reading: Herpes doubles autism risk. Originally published by Cosmos as Meet the guy who gave us herpes.
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