Herpes hopes heightened

New clinical research from the Australian Herpes Management Forum has shown that antiviral drug treatment effectively reduces the frequency and severity of recurrences in up to 90 percent of patients.

The recent developments in antiviral treatment is good news for people living with herpes and is helping them to control both their physical and psychological symptoms.

There are three different antiviral drugs available to treat herpes infections: Valaciclovir, Famciclovir and Acyclovir. The drugs prevent replication of the herpes virus by inhibiting the synthesis of DNA.

Taken on a daily basis there are few side effects and for many patients the treatment means they will not suffer any recurrences while on therapy.

Herpes is not curable but is manageable so one of the major goals when living with herpes is to manage and suppress outbreaks and continue to engage in a healthy sexual life, Professor Adrian Mindel of the Sexually Transmitted Infections Research Centre at Westmead Hospital said.

Many patients on antivirals will have a marked improvement in psychological and psychosexual well being.