Can mRNA Vaccines Defeat Herpes?

[Justsignedup]

Mrna vaccine techniques could be the next leap we needed to actually combat viruses.

Pretty amazing. I hope this ends up passing clinical trials soon.

[downrightmike]

Crispr and plucky scientists are getting really close https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/08/herpes...

[hammock]

Why wait?

[arcanon]

Super excited for the second sexual revolution after we cure STDs

[StevePerkins]

I don't think STD's are the primary deterrent, or even all that significant of a deterrent, to people having sex today. If sexual activity is taking a dip, then I would attribute it to:

(1) A progressive moral counterpart to the conservative moral prudishness behind the mid-20th century sexual revolution. It's strange. In some ways, sex positive feminism has prevailed. And yet, sex in general seems more loaded and viewed with suspicion than it was back in the 1990's when I entered my late teens and early 20's.

(2) Internet-driven pornography addiction, social anxiety, and an all-around trend toward increased isolation and atrophied social skills.

TL;DR - Sex is down because too many young women are patriarchy-triggered by sexual advances, and because too many incel dudes have no game and get their needs met through OnlyFans. I don't think it's because people fear the clap.

[zohch]

Why?

[Symmetry]

Very nice. Too bad this probably won't work with the worst virus in the herpes family, Cytomegalovirus, for the same reason our immune system struggles to keep up with it.

https://denovo.substack.com/p/cytomegalovirus-the-worst-herp...

[saxonww]

Anyone know whether the [REDACTED] really needs to be? Of course for a lot of us this is a big neon sign saying "something interesting here!"

It says need to know for biosecurity/policymaking, so I'm guessing it's something about weaponization.

[encryptluks2]

If you haven't seen the TV show Future Man... I believe this is what ultimately causes the end of humankind as we know it.

[bigmattystyles]

Loved that show! I don’t know where they found the guy who played wolf, but he is awesome.

[helge9210]

> The goals of a HSV-2 vaccine are to keep the herpes virus dormant

Combined with effect being limited in time (say, for half a year) this would create a steady revenue stream.

[_Microft]

This statement seems to assume that a limited duration of protection is a given. We don't know that. It could also as well be that it is actually impossible to clear out all reservoirs of the virus in the body once someone was infected. No need to assume nefarious intent (i.e. it being designed to keep people sick) right from the beginning.

[refurb]

If you think scientists can intentionally design something to be transient you’re showing your absolute ignorance of scientific research.

When you work on hard problems like this you’re thankful it works at all.

[zohch]

> Combined with effect being limited in time (say, for half a year) this would create a steady revenue stream.

Why would the effect be limited? I mean it could be, but it could also cause people to turn green, not sure why we would consider either of those to be likely though without more info.

If you are assuming the effect will be limited because the effect of the covid vaccine is limited, this may be more related to covid than to mRNA vaccines, especially since the non mRNA covid vaccines seems to be less effective than the mRNA vaccines, and not more so. And after all, the mechanism of action for mRNA vaccines and non mRNA vaccines are not fundamentally different, both induce an immune response to a pathogen without giving you a disease.

[junon]

Side note: happy to see the armchair virologists getting (rightfully) flagged on this thread. A rare sight here on HN.

[Pyramus]

It takes a while until the voting takes effect. Scrolling through the replies in a Covid or vaccine related post shortly after posting is an eerie experience.

[DantesKite]

I certainly hope so.