Health Expert healthgal shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/65036/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/65036/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/65036/index http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/53791/testing Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:24:39 -0500 healthgal To provide some clarification, since so many of you write to me asking about herpes testing, here's a run down of the current available tests.  They each have limitations, though I indicate which are the most specific.  A doctor will quite often take your history/examine you and then "marry the history/exam findings to the test results" which can mean that even in the face of a negative test result, your medical history... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/53791/testing http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/53150/acyclovir Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:21:55 -0500 healthgal If there is one resolution I would like to see, it's the commitment to practicing safe sex in 2009.  It is obvious from all the questions being posted on the site that lots of you take chances.  There's the "I won't get it this time," "the odds are with me that one time with no condom can't possibly end with herpes," "I trust this guy (gal) and they would tell me if I need to be careful."  Or maybe you have another way of... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/53150/acyclovir http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/52886/knowing Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:45:06 -0500 healthgal As an expert on the site I frequently answer questions about herpes.  Quite often I will refer the person to a particular area on the site, so they can read up and get a full understanding of the many details that are involved in answering their posted question- in fact, that I often cannot do full justice in my answer.  I know when many of you post a question you just want "a quick and easy factual answer," but... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/52886/knowing http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/52559/hiv-news Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:36:50 -0500 healthgal I know this site is primarily devoted to herpes but with HIV rates skyrocketing worldwide, its a topic we need to stay tuned in to.  New research out of Northwestern University has discovered a critical way that explains how men can transmit HIV to their female partners.  Until recently, scientists postulated that the female vaginal tract was a barrier to HIV.  They assumed that the HIV virus could not penetrate vaginal tract... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/52559/hiv-news http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/51488/connection Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:59:00 -0500 healthgal I don't suppose you'd expect me to be talking about Alzheimer's disease on a herpes website.  But the virus behind cold sores may also be the major cause of insoluble protein plaques that are typically found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease sufferers.  University of Manchester researchers believe that the herpes simplex virus or HSV1 may be a significant factor in developing this debilitating disease.  They also believe that... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/51488/connection http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/50681/spreading Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:57:30 -0500 healthgal Worldwide, a number of countries are making "spreading HIV" a crime.  The problem?  Some officials feel that this move - though well intended - could undermine efforts to fight the pandemic of AIDS.  Right now the estimated number of people globally who have HIV is estimated to be 33 million.  Every year - 3 million more people are infected.   Experts believe that this new law could result in forced testing and... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/50681/spreading http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/50079/unknowing Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:56:06 -0500 healthgal Who's fueling the herpes epidemic?? It may be young women who don't even know that they have the virus that causes genital herpes.  They may have no symptoms, they may not have been tested and they may be actively shedding the virus in their genital tracts.  They are basically infectious - and they don't know it.  The statistics are sobering.  Nationwide at least 45 million people 12 and older have genital herpes. ... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/50079/unknowing http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/49630/treatment Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:13:06 -0500 healthgal If you have herpes then you are probably familiar with the drug acyclovir.  It's an anti-viral agent that is often recommended to patients with HSV2 so that recurrences of active herpes are diminished.  The drug is credited with decreasing the number of times you will have painful breakouts, lowering viral load and helping to minimize (but not prevent) transmission of disease.    Studies now show that acyclovir can also... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/49630/treatment http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/48997/fighting Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:44:54 -0500 healthgal We are mostly alive because our immune cells function to protect us against the every second exposure to microbes, that given the opportunity, could overwelm us and kill us.  Well as immune cells age, they lose the ability to divide, and their disease-fighting abilities are compromised.  This is especially important in chronic dangerous viruses like HIV.  A new UCLA AIDS study may change all that.   The study... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/48997/fighting http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/48666/gardasil Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:07:00 -0500 healthgal Gardasil is a vaccine given in 3 doses and it costs about $375.  To date, about 1 in 4 girls have taken the vaccine, whose recommendations have been "to prevent deadly cervical cancers (and more recently vulvar/vaginal cancers) in women."  Seventy percent of these cancers tend to be cause by 2 strains of HPV,  both of which the vaccine covers.  The recommended age group to receive the vaccine is girls ages 9-26. ... http://www.healthcentral.com/genital-herpes/c/65036/48666/gardasil