Author: Marian Nicholson

The bad news

For many years we have been reporting on the research that finds that people with facial infection who also have a variant of the APOE4 gene are more likely than others to develop Alzheimer’s disease. (This is not relevant if you have it genitally. And people with genital infection are very unlikely to ever catch a new facial infection.) Only a tiny number of people have this gene variant – and anyway it is only ‘more likely to’ not ‘will’ develop.

This news has been picked up again in the media because researchers have now found that if mice are infected in the nose, this allows the virus to use the olfactory nerve to more easily reach the brain, leading to neurological issues. Again, we must emphasise that this is only ‘an increased risk’ not a flat out ‘will’…

The good news 1

Research studies following large numbers of people have also found that taking antiviral tablets – aciclovir, valaciclovir or famciclovir – have been useful in preventing dementia.

The good news 2

Also, research has followed people who have, and have not, had a shingles vaccine for seven years. It found that shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia by 20% .

The research, published in April 2025 in the prestigious journal Nature, reported that “women seem to benefit more.” This is important as they’re at higher risk of dementia.

The study covered people being given the single jab Zostavax. This vaccine has been replaced in the UK with the two-jab vaccine Shingrix which is even more effective at preventing shingles.

The vaccine helps with preventing dementia because it prevents the inflammation of the outbreak. It is now considered likely that this inflammatory process helps trigger dementia.

So it is not going to matter if a person has Shingrix or Zostavax. Just preventing the shingles episode is the aim! Here you can see who is able to get vaccinated free. If you are over 50 but outside the NHS free campaign, you can buy Shingrix. Some pharmacies including Boots sell this vaccination service for around £450.

SUMMARY

So, any antivirals you take are extra valuable. As are shingles vaccines. If you are in your 70s, or reach 65 after September 2023, get your shingles vaccines: two doses of Shingrix. Marian ended up having to buy one of her two doses (long story) and paid £225 for the single jab.

Published 8 May 2025

Spring 2025:  SPHERE magazine is 16 pages in A4 print version, and the e-version is in large text, single column, for easy reading on a screen.

Spring issue includes invitation to the talk by herpes expert Dr Peter Greenhouse at our Annual General Meeting – and much more…

Subscribe to have it sent to you by post or by email 

Winter 2025: 

Each magazine has pages of medical research on
this virus, and new facts about herpes simplex
treatments and herpes vaccines. In this magazine:

What is expected from a vaccine
CRISPR to remove the virus
Building confidence re this issue
Why Western Blot antibody test is so expensive

Treatment ideas from our readers
Emily’s view on ‘talking about STIs (and herpes in particular)
And lots more!

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Continue reading Information on herpes if you subscribe

A new report, paid for by a grant from the World Health Organisation, finds that one in 5 of the world’s population has genital herpes.

This is an estimate based on studies in countries around the world. It is an update on the study published in 2016 using improved data. The authors have broken down the data into continents/WHO regions. The highest rate is in Africa and the Western Pacific Region. Overall, over 900 million people have genital infection – and many more have facial infection.

In Europe for type 2 genitally: 35% of women are infected, with 9% having had an outbreak, and 27.5% men are infected, with 5% having had an outbreak. For type 1: 25 % of women are infected, with 0.7 % having had an outbreak, and 14 % men are infected, with 0.5% having had an outbreak

You can read about transmission on our webpage.

TYPE 1 – cold sores (on face) or genital sores

Cold sores are universal. By adulthood, a person is more likely that not to have the virus. However most people don’t ever notice that they get a cold sore. It is so mild that it goes unnoticed, or is thought to be ‘an itchy patch’ or ‘a little cut’ or ‘a pimple just below my lip’. Therefore, a person who is aware that they get the occasional cold sore is less likely to pass it on that the others who have nor realised that their minor symptom is a cold sore.

You are not expected to catch a cold sore again -anywhere on your body. Because, the antibodies you develop, for an infection on your face, will protect you from catching it again elsewhere. So it will not spread between partners when they do oral sex if both already have it.

Oral sex is the way that people get type 1 genitally. So don’t give oral sex when you have a cold sore.

And, if you do get cold sores, try the LomaProtect salve we sell on our website. Used promptly, we expect it to stop the cold sore from developing.

^{This page was published 7-1-2025}

You wait for years for a herpes vaccine trial to be run in the UK and then two turn up at once.

Herpes zoster (shingles)

Recruiting started again in the autumn 2024 for a “herpes” vaccine trial is “ZostaFluCov.” This is for herpes zoster – “Zosta” – is the name for a recurrence of chickenpox, commonly called shingles. This trial is to find out how acceptable it is to give people over 50 the new Shingrix vaccine against shingles at the same time as giving them the seasonal flu jab and the Covid booster.

This is an opportunity to get the shingles jab early! The NHS is only giving the Shingrix vaccination to people as they become 65, and people in their 70s.

The trial is being done in the following locations. (They may add more, and if so I will be back to update this list.)

• North Bristol Trust
• University Hospital Bristol and Weston
• Guy’s and St Thomas
• St Georges
• Sheffield
• Royal United hospital bath
• Hull
• South Tees
• Gloucestershire
• Marine Lake (the Wirral)
• Southampton
• Pier Health Group (Weston-super-Mare)

You can find out more about this trial – which involves about 5 or 6 visits to the research clinic – by visting the central organiser’s website at ZosterFluCOV (bristol.ac.uk)

It is important that you can visit the site repeatedly. You will have to make a minimum of 3 visits and more likely 5. So you will need to be able to get their easily!

Herpes simplex

Until February 29th 2024, you have a chance to join the GSK vaccine trial which is being conducted in hospitals in Brighton, Liverpool, central London and Southampton. However, at this stage you might have to go on a waiting list.

…

The waiting list is worth being on because the first thing that participants will be asked to do, is to swab themselves twice a day for 28 days. This is to prove that they can comply with the requirements of the vaccine trial. As people drop out, because they cannot remember to swab themselves, then more volunteers will be recruited to take their places.

To qualify, you need to be 18-60 years old; to have had herpes simplex type 2 for at least one year; and to have had between 3 and 9 recurrences in the last year. or, if you are on suppressive therapy within 3 months before the first visit, prior to initiation of suppressive therapy.

You can see the full details of the trial on National Library of Medicine (USA) trials register: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05298254?cond=NCT05298254&rank=1

If you are interested, phone the trial co-ordination centre on 020 xxxx xxxx (trial has finished recruiting.) They will be able to give you contact details for the centre that could suit you. Remember, you will need to visit the centre many times (I’m guessing around 5 times), so the centre will need to be somewhere you can get to.

Post published on 13/02/2024 – re-edited and republished 18/11/24

There is one other ‘good’ herpes organisation, apart from ours… The New Zealand Herpes Foundation has just issued a series of videos. They are GREAT.

There are five clips aiming to debunk herpes stigma.

Be sure to watch to the end of no. 1 “What is herpes”.

And the last one, no. 5, really packs a punch.

The New Zealand Herpes Foundation were given a legacy with the proviso that it must be use to destigmatise herpes. They’s surely done their benefactor proud!

Dated: 18-10-2024

Nigel Scott, HVA trustee, reports:

Marian Nicholson, the Director of the Herpes Viruses Association, has been honoured with Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in this year’s Birthday Honours List, “for services to people diagnosed with herpes and shingles.”

Marian has been running the HVA since 1995, almost thirty years. Before that, she was supporting the charity as a volunteer. During that time she has devoted thousands of hours in support of patients and the charity’s wider work. She has always gone well above and beyond the what anyone in a regular job would do.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the HVA owes its continuing existence, in no small part, to the diligence and enthusiasm of Marian.

“It’s an honour for the charity, not me.”

Marian was surprised to receive the award, “The night I came home from the HVA office and found the envelope waiting for me, I couldn’t sleep. The excitement kept bubbling up. It’s a wonderful endorsement of my efforts, of course. But I see it primarily as official and long overdue recognition of the importance of the HVA and the work it does to reassure and inform patients.”

“I requested a change to the citation for the MBE. Instead of services to people with herpes, I asked for ‘For services to people diagnosed with herpes and shingles.’ Three reasons for this: 1. We know that most people with herpes simplex don’t know they have it and so don’t need/ask for our help. 2. Mentioning shingles in the citation will get people thinking about the association of the two. And 3, it also gives the poor people who I meet at the Palace, all the officers in elegant uniforms and other recipients of awards, something to talk about if they fear my mentioning the word ‘sex’!”

Published 15 June 2024

Since 2020, everyone can have free prescriptions for treatments for all STIs and HIV.

Make sure any antiviral prescription from a GP is endorsed with ‘FS.’ There is no need for the GP to write anything else on it.

From the prescribing team in the Dept. of Health and Social Care:

This is to “enable prescribers to endorse the FP10 prescription form to show the pharmacist that the item(s) prescribed are for free-of-charge treatment for a sexually transmitted infection (STI)… Because we understand that treatment for STIs is increasingly being provided by prescriptions from GPs and we want to make sure that people aren’t charged a prescription charge for this treatment which the law says must be given for free.

“A new prescriber endorsement ‘FS’ has been introduced for ‘free supply of sexual health treatment’ to enable prescribers to endorse prescriptions for STIs to indicate to dispensers that the patient should not be charged.”

Read the details on https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2020-01/DHSC_Changes_to_the_FP10_guidance_Jan2020.pdf page 4 deals with the FS service.

You may see ‘Are they working on a cure for herpes?’ on forums and in internet questions.

The answer is a resounding “YES.” The medical world is well aware that there area many people who have too many recurrences. And some of them know how badly the ‘idea of having herpes’ affects society – especially in America. There are fortunes to be made…

Can we guess when a cure for herpes might be available? NO, WE CANNOT. There is no way to know when a breakthrough will occur. So, do not put your life “on hold” until they invent something new. Learn to live in harmony with the virus. Our resources will enable you to do just that.

New reports

Weekly, the HVA is sent links to newly published scientific articles which include the word ‘herpes’. We get between 23 and 156 each week. Some are about herpes varicella or herpes zoster – but plenty are about herpes simplex too.

Most papers report research in silico (computer based i.e. “in silicon”), or in vitro (“in glass” i.e. using cells growing in the laboratory). We occasionally report on these for the monthly updates our subscribers are sent.

Occasionally, the research reports working in vivo (in living organism) and this is when we start looking seriously at their work.

What kind of research is being done on on a cure for herpes?