Combination Drug for HIV Helps Prevent Transmission of Genital Herpes

A recent study has found that certain HIV drugs could help to reduce the risk of genital herpves (HSV-2). According to findings published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the combination HIV treatment Truvada was found to help reduce the rate of transmission for this sexually transmitted disease (STD).  

"Modest protection against HSV-2 is an added benefit of HIV-1 prevention with oral tenofovir-based PrEP," stated the study authors. 

For the study, researchers monitored the risk of getting herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2) in close to 1,500 African heterosexual adults from Kenya and Uganda who did not have HIV or HSV-2 at the beginning of the study. However, all of the involved participants were considered at high risk of acquiring HIV because of an infected partner.

All of the participants were given the drug tenofovir alone or in combination with the AIDS drug, emtricitabine . Truvada, however, contains both drugs. Other participants were given a placebo. The enrollment portion of the study lasted from 2008 to 2010 and researchers followed participants up until 2011.

Findings showed that participants who just took tenofovir had a 24 percent reduced risk of getting HSV-2. However, those who took the combination treatment had a 36 percent reduced risk. However, doctors note that these findings may not be quite enough to convince doctors to use either drugs solely for HSV-2 prevention due to expensive costs. 

However, as HIV and herpes infections can occur together, truvada may prove a drug of choice for future treatment. It was also shown to reduce HIV transmission rate by up to 90 percent with the use of a condom.

"About 20 percent of adults in the U.S. have genital herpes infection, and about 50 percent of adults in Africa," said lead study author Dr. Connie Celum, director of the International Clinical Research Center at the University of Washington. "Previous studies have indicated that genital herpes increases the risk of becoming HIV-infected by about two-fold."