Category: News

We include pages of medical research in each issue of the magazine. there is plenty of  herpes simplex research going on; new facts about herpes simplex treatments and herpes vaccines. In this magazine:

About half the magazine is medical news

We have an article on herpes stigma by two psychologists – along with our comments.

Building your confidence at the next Assurance Day – what was said about the last one.

Sherri’s story – how it happened…
And lots more!

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See articles from past Spheres here.  See an example of the full magazine here.

Back copies of Sphere

You can also order back copies of Sphere.  For instance you can read a talk on the psychology of having herpes simplex given by Dr John Green on “Getting your head around it”.

He made us laugh! A total of ten pages printed in two successive journals. We print an almost verbatim report of his talk including the question and answer session and his views on the (non-issue) of the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidelines on ‘deliberate infection with an STI’.  His attitude was that if he was called as an expert witness, he would use the court to ridicule the idea of attempting to bring a case about this. But he does not expect, ever, to see a person in the dock for transmitting herpes simplex.  He laughed and said something about how you cannot call herpes simplex ‘a serious condition’. His whole talk was very amusing and the report is sprinkled with [LAUGHTER] notes so that readers can feel what it was like to be in the room. (They are in SPHEREs 21/3 and 21/4.)

Sign up to get the magazine sent to you every three months by post or by email.  Subscribers can order all the back copies for just £25 – it’s an education!

This page was updated on 29-6-2025

The UK Crown Prosecution Service says there is no need to disclose , but don’t lie if asked. That applies to any STI or HIV. And don’t be malicious or reckless.

A case in Australia in May 2026 hit the headlines when a man was sentenced to 13 months. He did lie when he was directly asked about STIs. And he had unprotected sex with the partner, so he could indeed be called reckless.

He had received a leaflet from the clinic where he was diagnosed which stated that there was no legal requirement to disclose. He had not realised there was a risk of transmission when he could see nothing on his skin.

He was advised by his lawyer to plead guilty. From our research, every time a man is accused of transmission by his partner, they have been advised to plead guilty. This means that there has, so far, never been a trial. In a trial, a jury would be addressed by expert doctors. They would hear how common this is, how two out of three people who catch it will not notice, and that there are no serious medical consequences

It is a totally unfair situation where the two people who don’t realise they have it can do what they like. And yet society expects the one in three who is aware of the diagnosis to behave differently. What would you think of a speed limit or other law which only applies to one in three people?

The man was given a thirteen month sentence which he will serve in the community on an intensive correction order.

Comment from an Australian academic journal explain why criminalising the transmission of an extremely common condition might backfire. It makes people reluctant to get diagnosed, and has been shown to make absolutely no difference to rales of infection.

The first case in UK was similar. David was not educated about. And his girlfriend was furious with him when he ended their relationship.

The Rational Vaccine is now available in Roatán, Honduras, and in Munich, Germany. See also the update on vaccine in the earlier post, below…

RVx is a therapeutic vaccine which aims to treat herpes simplex types 1 and 2. It is for people getting too many recurrences. Experience so far has shown that, after the first injection, you can expect to cease having nerve pains, and that you will have 50 percent fewer recurrences. After the course of three injections, some people cease having recurrences altogether and for the others, recurrences are very much less frequent. (Scientists would never risk saying “they stop altogether.”)

We attended a webinar about this vaccine . They said it was “for individuals experiencing frequent outbreaks, persistent symptoms, or frustration after exhausting conventional antiviral therapy.”

See below, where the information we wrote about getting the vaccine at the GARM Clinic in Roatan is unchanged. We suggest you email Dr Luisa Veloz ([email protected]) directly. We hear that you will pay her US $150 for a first consultation (U.S. medical prices). Dr Veloz has been treating people with herpes simplex for years and is an expert.

What’s included in your evaluation? (copied from their page HSVconsult.com )
• Comprehensive review of your HSV history, outbreak frequency, and symptoms
• Assessment of neurological symptoms (back pain, tingling, insomnia, brain fog)
• Honest candidacy determination – including if you are not a fit
• Realistic outcome expectations based on 13+ years of clinical data

Getting the vaccine in Munich: the system has changed.

Since Dr Veloz is the most experienced physician with this investigational product, Dr Kroehle in Germany has asked her to do the initial consultation for people wishing to get the injections in Munich. Dr Veloz will then refer European patients directly to Dr Kroehle who will administer the injections. As described above, the consultation ($150) will be about eligibility and to answer all your questions. You will then pay €12,000 and receive the injections.

Summary: update on vaccine

To start the process vaccines for getting the injections in Munich, Germany, or in Roatán, Honduras, contact Dr. Luisa Veloz at [email protected] for the initial consultation.

Published 18/3/2026

Rational Vaccines has been perfecting a therapeutic (treatment) and vaccine for herpes simplex type 1 and type 2 for many years. At last, it is available at facilities in Munich, Germany and Roatan, Honduras. However this is a private treatment and currently, the cost is high.

The development of this therapeutic vaccine has been reported in our News and Stories column https://herpes.org.uk/new-vaccine/  on previous occasions.   The expected protocol is that a patient will have three injections, one month apart. From the previous trial, we can say that on average any improvement will not be apparent until two weeks after the second dose, when the immune response is properly boosted.

We hear that for now, the price is more than £2,000 for each one of the three jabs needed. The price is expected to come down over the next few years. We will be following that news, eagerly.

For now, the RVX treatment is available to private patients at LVATE medical centre in Munich, and at the GARM clinic, in Prospera, Roatan, Honduras. As well as the cost of the injections, you will have to travel to the clinic for the three jabs.

For more information please contact:

• In Munich, Dr Kroehle: [email protected] or a phone number +49172 1719789 to schedule an appointment or preparation call. And her assistant is also available through WhatsApp.
• In Honduras, see more information on HSVconsult.com or email Mayra :  [email protected]  

If you do get this treatment, it would be good if you would consent to have the treatment results data collected (totally anonymously) to help Rational Vaccine to ascertain just how effective this therapeutic vaccine could be at preventing outbreaks. This will help when it comes to getting governments to adopt it as a treatment.

Don’t hold your breath for this vaccine to be widely available. That is in the future.

Email the HVA at [email protected] for any further details, as they become available.

Below:
Agustin, the CEO of Rational Vaccines and Dr William Halford, the inventor:

Published 14/1/26 amended 23 February 2026

Short answer: nothing

Long answer:

Until you have symptoms, you are considered not to have the virus. There is no test – apart from one place in the USA – that is suitable for people who are do not have visible sores, ulcers or lesions.

Continue reading I’ve had sex with someone who has herpes, what now?

Dr Jan Clarke’s statements: she is a top sexual health consultant. She ran the “patient and public panel” for the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) for years. She says:

Continue reading Think about these statements…

Since 2020, everyone can have free prescriptions for treatments for all STIs and HIV. (But also see last paragraph below.)

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.

Continue reading Free prescriptions

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.

Continue reading Will a shingles vaccine help prevent dementia? Does having herpes contribute to dementia?

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.

Continue reading You are not alone

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

Continue reading Two herpes vaccine trials