8/10/2019 How Herpes and Other Dormant Viruses -Reactivate- Explained in New Study

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278890.php

How Herpes and other dormant viruses'reactivate' explained in new study

Last updated: 27 June 2014 at 8am PST

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Scientists have found that interactions between different viruses can triggerdormant viruses to reactivate and cause disease. The researchers believe thisexplains why cases of herpes can sometimes return after the virus has long laindormant in a host.

Most people in the US get oral herpes - or herpes simplex virus type 1 - by the ageof 20. Following the first infection - usually after 1 or 2 weeks - the virus will

become dormant in the facial nerve tissues.

Occasionally, however, the virus may reactivate and cause milder cold sore symptoms.

In total, there are eight herpes viruses that can affect humans. Some versions of thevirus can cause chickenpox , mononucleosis and cancer .

"Probably 95% of us have been infected with at least one herpes virus, but many people never have a problem with it," says study co-author Rolf Renne, PhD, a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology in the University of Florida (UF)College of Medicine and a member of the UF Genetics Institute and the UF HealthCancer Center.

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8/10/2019 How Herpes and Other Dormant Viruses -Reactivate- Explained in New Study

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"The question has been: what happens toreactivate these viruses to cause disease?"

Th e researchers found that in terferon gamma kept the herpes vir us dormant, butwhen the immune system r esponded to a helminth in fection , the vir us wouldreactivate.

In co-operation with researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, MO,Renne and his UF colleagues investigated how human herpes virus 8 - a herpesvirus linked to the Kaposi's sarcoma cancer - reactivates. They publish theirfindings in the journal Science .

Working first with a mouse model, and then replicating their findings in humansubjects, the team found that after initial infection, the protein interferon gammakept the virus dormant in the body.

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8/10/2019 How Herpes and Other Dormant Viruses -Reactivate- Explained in New Study

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