After early microbicide candidates failed in clinical trials to prevent HIV, recent news from the South African CAPRISA-004 study suggest that the new generation of vaginal microbicide gels using antiretroviral drugs like tenofovir could be effective and reduce HIV and herpes simplex virus (HSV)-2 acquisition.1 This landmark study greatly energized the field and revived enthusiasm for the devel...

This is the guideline for genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) management for the IUSTI/WHO Europe, 2010. They describe the epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical features, treatment and prevention of genital HSV infection. They include details on the management of HSV in pregnancy, those who are immunocompromised and the clinical investigation and management of suspected HSV-resistant disease.

Apoptosis, an important innate immune mechanism that eliminates pathogen-infected cells, is primarily triggered by two signalling pathways: the death receptor pathway and the mitochondria-mediated pathway. However, many viruses have evolved various strategies to suppress apoptosis by encoding anti-apoptotic factors or regulating apoptotic signalling pathways, which promote viral propagation and...

Infection of susceptible cells by herpes simplex virus (HSV) can lead to productive infection or to latency, where the genomes persist in the nuclei of peripheral neurons in a quiescent state. Using the HSV strain d109, which does not express any viral genes and thus establishes a quiescent state in most cells, we observed that a fraction of genomes circularized upon infection. The expression o...

was positive. No other pathogens were detected in her blood, urine, sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage, or thoracenthesis fl uid. Empiric treatment in patients with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 should be considered in those seeking treatment for infl uenza-like symptoms, especially in the setting of sick contacts with respiratory illnesses. Rapid infl uenza tests, respiratory fl uorescent antibody tests, a...

The synthesis and antiviral activity of various aminoglycoside derivatives having a palmitoyl group are described. All of these aminoglycoside derivatives exhibited almost the same excellent antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type I and influenza virus.

It was demonstrated that newborn mice, surviving an infection with attenuated herpes simplex virus, become resistant to challenge with a pathogenic strain of herpes simplex virus. This resistance did not seem to be mediated by antibody.

Exposing explant cultures of latently infected mouse trigeminal ganglia alternately to acyclovir-containing and drug-free medium led to a significant decrease in the proportion of ganglia containing reactivatable herpes simplex virus. The loss of virus from the explant cultures was not caused by thermal inactivation during prolonged incubation periods. The efficiency of virus elimination may de...