Two-thirds of the world’s population under 50 have the highly
infectious herpes virus that causes cold sores around the mouth, the
World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday, in its first estimate
of global prevalence of the disease.
More than 3.7-billion people
under the age of 50 suffer from the herpes simplex virus type 1
(HSV-1), usually after catching it in childhood, according to a the WHO
study.
That is in addition to 417-million people in the 15-49 age
range who have the other form of the disease, HSV-2, which causes
genital herpes.
HSV-1 normally causes mouth ulcers rather than
genital infection, but it is becoming an increasing cause of genital
infection too, mainly in rich countries.
That is because improved
hygiene in rich countries is lowering HSV-1 infection rates in
childhood, leaving young people more at risk of catching it via oral sex
when they become sexually active.
HSV-2 can increase the risk of
catching and spreading HIV, the disease that causes AIDS. Little is
known about any link between HSV-1 and HIV/AIDS, although it can lead to
other serious complications such as encephalitis.
"We really need
to accelerate the development of vaccines against herpes simplex virus,
and if a vaccine designed to prevent HSV-2 infection also prevented
HSV-1, it would have far-reaching benefits," WHO medical officer Sami
Gottlieb said.
Nathalie Broutet, another WHO medical officer, said
the US National Institutes of Health and companies, including
GlaxoSmithKline, were involved in trials to determine whether a
therapeutic or preventative vaccine was preferable.
Ms Gottlieb
said GSK had previously abandoned a vaccine trial after finding the
product was not effective against HSV-2, although it did show some
efficacy against HSV-1.
"That was interesting and promising and
gave a proof of concept that these vaccines can be developed. There’s a
lot of work ongoing and we’re hopeful that we’ll have an HSV vaccine in
the future," she said.
Several phase 1 and phase 2 trials were under way, she said.
Genocea Biosciences recently dropped work on a pneumonia vaccine in favour of its more promising work on genital herpes.
Reuters
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