AN EXPERIMENTAL gel can prevent herpes infection in mice. If it works as well in people, one application would protect women for several days.
Genital herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus. In the US, 1 in 5 people are infected. The virus can lie dormant in nerve cells, periodically reactivating and causing a recurrence of symptoms. There are treatments but no cure – people remain infected for life and can infect partners. While vaccines against herpes are in development, none has proved fully effective.
Now Judy Lieberman’s team at Harvard Medical School has harnessed the power of RNA interference…
