Herpes Bulletin

Herpes is a common viral infection. It causes oral herpes (cold sores or fever blisters), and genital herpes (genital sores or sores below the waist)....

Herpes vaccines are currently being investigated and it is felt that an effective vaccine may be available in 3-5 years. Vaccines will only function to prevent the infection in new patients. Those who already have the simplex virus disease will probably not gain any benefit. Some vaccines have been tried to prevent the HSV occurrence, but so far had no noticible effects. These include the smallpox, Polio and Lupidon C vaccine....

Although there is no cure for herpes, some drugs have been effective in reducing the frequency and duration of outbreaks. It might be a good idea to discuss options with your doctor....

Is it true that the amino acid called lysine, is good for herpes outbreaks? Yes. Supplementation with free-form lysine has shown to be beneficial in controlling herpes along with a diet high in lysine and low in arginine. "This suggests that physicians in a position to study the effect of lysine in herpes simplex infections should do so. It appears to do no harm and may be a useful therapeutic measure."...

What foods are high in lysine and low in arginine? Fish, chicken, beef, lamb, milk, cheese, beans, brewer's yeast, mung bean sprouts and most fruits and veges have more lysine than arginine, except...

Nine proteins have been identified in the enveloped herpes simplex viron. In addition to the capsid proteins, the naked virions contain two additional proteins (VI and VII). Protein VII is an arginine-rich protein of the viral core. It is also known that the proteins synthesised by the herpes simplex virus infected cells contain more arginine but less lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryrosine, and isoleucine relative to leucine than the proteins synthesised by unaffected cells....