Therapeutic Immunization for Recurrent Herpes Simplex Virus Infections

Two centuries ago Jenner dramatically demonstrated the power of vaccines for disease prevention. He protected individuals from the deadly smallpox virus by injecting them with vesicular fluid from cowpox lesions. Currently, vaccines are used world-wide as primary tools for preventing infectious diseases. In addition to this traditional role, some investigators today think vaccines can be used to treat diseases. Other scientists disagree.1 Skeptics argue that vaccines cannot boost the immune response better than the natural infection itself In the case of recurrent herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections, the virus reactivates periodically in spite of natural immunity. To be useful therapeutically, then, a vaccine would have to present herpes antigens to the immune system in a different, more effective way than they are presented by natural recurrences. Data emerging from vaccine therapy of patients with recurrent HSV infections suggests that vaccines can be used to treat disease.