BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Researchers report that a new medicine that aims to prevent herpes infections in women is 100 percent effective -- in mice.
The animal research, led by Dr. Nigel Bourne of Cincinnati's Children's Hospital Medical Center, opens the door to testing in women. If all goes well, an anti-herpes vaginal cream to be used before -- or possibly even after -- having sex, could be available within five years.
The virus infects about 500,000 Americans a year. In adults, herpes causes painful, recurring genital sores that can increase the risk of contracting HIV. Genital herpes kills about 1,000 infants a year after mothers pass on the virus during childbirth.
On a wider scale, demonstrating success against herpes gives scientists hope that blocking agents can be found for other sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea -- maybe even HIV. Every year, about 12 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases are reported, according to the American Social Health Association.
"The idea is to make something that will protect women from a lot of different sexually transmitted diseases, not just herpes," said Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, director of infectious diseases at Children's.
Study results of the anti-herpes compound, CTC-96, were presented Friday in San Diego at an international conference on antimicrobial agents. The compound was recently named Doxovir by the manufacturer, Redox Pharmaceutical Corp., which funded the Children's Hospital study.
Genital herpes is caused primarily by the herpes simplex type 2 virus; and much less often by the type 1 virus. There is no cure. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that genital herpes has increased fivefold since the late 1970s among white teen-agers and doubled among whites in their 20s.
Overall, one in five Americans over the age of 12 is infected with the genital herpes virus. That's about 46 million people. Ninety percent of them don't know they have it -- and worse -- the virus can be passed on even when there are no genital sores.
The next step will be more animal tests to see whether it works against HIV, chlamydia and other diseases, Dr. Stanberry said. Scientists also want more information on how long it works after an application.
Early results in mice found that CTC-96 was 100 percent effective when given before exposure to the herpes virus, and 50 percent effective when given as long as six hours after exposure.
"I've been in this business for 16 years and these results were striking. This compound has properties we have never seen before," Dr. Stanberry said.
The research goal is to develop a cream that women can buy without a prescription. The critical target population will be young adults and sexually active teen-agers, Dr. Stanberry said.
Whether such a product would be popular, or affordable, for young people remains to be seen.
"It seems like every teen-ager on the planet has enough money to buy a CD. They ought to have enough money for something like this," Dr. Stanberry said.
Human testing could begin within two years.
