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SAN DIEGO — People infected with genital herpes might be able to protect their sex partners with a daily pill, a new study suggests.
Genital herpes, which infects about 1 in 5 adult Americans, is a lifelong condition that has no cure. Public-health officials estimate that as many as 1 million new infections occur each year.
The new research, presented yesterday, suggests that daily use of the drug valacyclovir can reduce transmission of the virus by 50 percent. The finding "opens up a whole new concept" in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, said lead researcher Dr. Lawrence Corey of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He discussed the study results during an annual meeting on infectious diseases sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology.
The research involved 1,484 monogamous, heterosexual couples. For eight months, 743 people took the drug daily, while 741 took a placebo. The couples also were given monthly counseling and urged to use condoms.
The research project lasted four years and took place at 126 sites worldwide.
In the end, 28 people whose partners did not take the drug acquired a new herpes infection. But among those whose partners took the drug, only 14 became infected. The frequency of sexual activity reported was similar in both groups.
GlaxoSmithKline, which sells the drug for about $3 a pill wholesale, sponsored the study. Valacyclovir already is on the market as a treatment for herpes flare-ups. While it doesn't wipe out the infection, the drug impedes the ability of the virus to copy itself.
Corey said the research is the first to demonstrate that an antiviral treatment might prevent a sexually transmitted disease.
Scientists are planning tests to determine whether the drug might play a role in the prevention of AIDS in developing countries, said Dr. Scott Hammer, an infectious-disease specialist at Columbia University in New York.
The research results should be good news for infected people concerned about their partners, said Dr. Hunter Handsfield, of the University of Washington and head of the sexually transmitted disease-prevention program at the Public Health — Seattle & King County. But the public-health impact is unclear, said Handsfield, who was not one of the researchers in the study.
"The issue is, what about the single guy who has herpes?" he said. A single person not in a stable relationship might be less motivated to take a pill every day out of pure altruism, he said.
So regarding whether the drug will lower the herpes infection rate, Handsfield said, "We don't ultimately know the answer."
[ Seattle Times ]
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Last Revised at December 10, 2007 by Lusine Kazoyan, M.D.
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