Herpes caused by parasites, alternative medicine school - Try Out

New infections could trigger cancer-causing herpes viruses that have been lying dormant in the body for years to reemerge.
The researchers found that parasitic infections later in life can spark an immune reaction that allows the herpes virus to reactivate. The team found that after the initial herpes infection is kept at bay by a protein called interferon gamma, this explains why the virus usually lies dormant. Article Body 2010Signals from the immune system that help repel a common parasite inadvertently can cause a dormant viral infection to become active again, a new study shows.
The scientists identified specific signals in mice that mobilize the immune system to fight tapeworms, roundworms and other helminths, parasites that infect nearly a quarter of all humans.

Scientists have observed several examples of latent infections, such as tuberculosis, becoming active again after parasitic infections, such as malaria. The researchers gave mice a virus similar to human Karposi’s sarcoma-associated herpes virus, a virus that causes cancers common in AIDS patients. Virgin, the Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and Head of Pathology and Immunology, emphasized that the finding only applies to a particular class of herpes viruses that does not include herpes simplex, a common cause of sexually transmitted disease, or cytomegalovirus, which causes problems in patients with compromised immune systems. The team focused on human herpes virus 8, which is a herpes virus linked to a form of cancer called Kaposi sarcoma. When such a parasite infects mice, some of the signals that the animal’s immune system produces to defend against it can activate a latent viral infection.


The same signals cause an inactive herpes virus infection in the mice to begin replicating again. After the infection became latent, the researchers infected the mice with parasitic helminth worms. The parasite then caused the mouse immune system to make cytokines, signaling molecules that help summon the immune cells and other factors needed to attack the parasites.

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