Sunday, March 15, 2015

A Treatment plan for Cold Sores?

Cold sores, also known as fever blister, are small blisters that develop on or around the lip area. When one has a cold sore the skin around the blister is usually red and swollen. Cold sores will take several days to two weeks to heal. Most cold sores are a product of a virus. The virus is the herpes simplex virus type 1 or HSV-1. Roughly twenty percent of people get these cold sores regular. Research say that the people that do get the cold sores normally can thank genetics. 
The virus type 1 (HSV-1) is found in nine out of ten people, but cold sores only effect the minority. Scientists have proposed the question as to why only the minority get these sore when the virus is found in so many people. In a study researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland analyzed thousands of genes. They studied the genes to see which ones were responsible for halting the virus by making certain protein. In this studied they found multiple genes that could be preventing the virus from becoming active. When the researchers took a look at it from the opposites end, they found a mutated gene that was in people who got cold sores. The mutated IL28B gene was present in the blood samples of twenty people who had cold sores. The mutated IL28B gene is unable to produce the protein need to stop the virus from creating cold sores. The mutated gene leaves the body's immune system unable to protect itself again the cold sores.

The discovery of the mutated gene and its affect on the HSV-1 virus has open the door for a treatment  plan of the cold sores and other infection caused by HSV-1. The work done in this study was interesting. The study was first unsuccessful until the researchers looked at in reverse. The study will provided crucial information to help treat and prevent the HSV-1 virus from becoming active. This I though, was wonderful because the treatment could be used for all kinds of diseases, other than cold sores, that the virus causes. 

2 comments:

  1. Interesting article! Cold sores are such a common issue that many people face. I have always been curious as to why some individuals express the sore while some have been exposed but never actually get the sore. If researchers can develop a treatment or cure for hsv1 will it work the same for hsv2?

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  2. Its interesting to know that something as simple and common as a cold sore is caused by genetics, especially when its known as something that is just contagious.

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