Antiviral drug may limit herpes spread
By Nathan Seppa
In people who have had at least one outbreak of blistering from genital herpes, the drug famciclovir sharply reduces virus shedding from the external portions of the genitalia, a new study finds. Such shedding can spread the virus between people.
Despite the apparent risk of herpes spreading during an outbreak, most new cases of genital herpes are caused by sexual contact with an infected person without visible blisters, says Peter Leone, a physician at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. Because such silent transmission “is what drives the epidemic,” he says, inhibiting shedding could prove valuable.