Herpes Simplex Disease

In present day society, a silent pandemic affects countless humans. These diseases are known as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). STDs typically spread without warning and once the disease is contracted, it is impossible to eliminate even with assistance from advance modern medicine. In particular, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) are notorious for their capability to end a person’s way of life. These viral maladies are noted for differing methods of transmission, distinct lack of prominent symptoms, and the dissimilar treatments used on patients to ease the symptoms. HIV and HSV are both classified as sexually transmitted diseases, yet they are inherently different at the molecular level, thus requiring
different methods of transmission through the body. For instance, HSV is a double stranded DNA (dsDNA) virus. The herpes virus attacks the stratified squamous epithelium of the mouth, vagina, and the rectum. In order to infect more epithelial cells, HSV deceives the host cell into reproducing the proteins and viral DNA necessary for the HSV to replicate more of itself. Lastly, the virus recedes to the nerve cells where the virus becomes latent until it is reactivated causing more outbreaks (“Herpesvirus Infections”). HIV, on the other hand, is a single stranded RNA retrovirus. HIV attacks the immune cells (helper T lymphocytes) and macrophages—functions to rid harmful substances from the body—instead of the epithelial cells. The retrovirus initially stays in the cytoplasm of the host cell, as opposed to going directly to the nucleus, where it converts the single stranded viral RNA into a dsDNA with the help of HIV’s viral enzymes called reverse transcriptase and ribonuclease H. Then the viral DNA enters the nucleus and, using the enzyme integrase, merge with the host cell’s chromosomal DNA. After the provirus, viral DNA, is transcribed into necessary proteins for replication of additional viruses. The virus assembles itself into a viral genome. The viral genome bursts out of the cell, effectively rendering the dendritic cells (i.e. phagocytic cells) obsolete, and spreading the infectious agents rapidly without alerting immune cells to stop the pathogen (“Dendritic Cells”). For these differences, the two viruses require different tactics to ensure the distribution of the viral infestation and continue its own parasitic existence.
Secondly, while HIV and HSV do not display definitive symptoms of infection, there are indicators some people can mistake for minor illnesses—such as mistaking sores around an affected area for a minor skin condition in the case of HSV.
Furthermore, in certain cases, people carrying HSV do not show visible signs of the illness or the symptoms are typical across countless types of illness, which may lead to a misdiagnosis. HSV-positive patients, for example, can experience fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, or a headache within the first outbreak of the virus (“Genital Herpes”). These symptoms could be attributed to other illnesses. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. federal health institute, argues that 87.4% of HSV-positive individuals are unaware of their affliction (“Genital Herpes”). Conversely, according to the CDC, many, not all, HIV-positive people do not exhibit symptoms up to ten years or more (“About HIV/AIDS”). In contrast to HSV, HIV has three stages of viral progression. The period formerly described is called clinical latency, in which the production of the HIV is low thus the, or any, symptoms of the virus is nonexistent (“About HIV/AIDS”). However, the most deadly stage of HIV is the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) stage; the distinctive characteristic of the AIDS stage is the damage sustained by the immune system, which allows opportunistic illnesses to ravage the human
body.
Although treatments are available for both types of STDs, but they do not cure the illness and they merely reduce the likelihood of transmitting the disease.
HIV and HSV are reputed as deadly diseases because they are incurable, but due to modern medicine the STDs are comparatively easier to manage. Since the two types of STDs are genetically different, the treatments used to reign in the progression of the disease are also dissimilar. Patients, during the onset of the first and subsequent outbreaks of HSV, use drugs such as Acyclovir, Valacyclovir, and Famciclovir to inhibit viral DNA polymerase thus curtailing the production of the virus (“Herpesvirus Infection”). In contrast, HIV is a RNA retrovirus—which comes with its own viral enzymes—requires the use of multiple types of inhibitors to reduce replication of the virus. HIV uses a combination of nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, and HIV entry inhibitors in a treatment called antiretroviral therapy (ART) to reduce the production of viral agents (“HIV
Infection”).
These diseases cause strife for the affected victims by disrupting people’s lives. Once diagnosed with either of these diseases, a person essentially loses their ability live their lives as they choose. The idea of transmitting theses horrible diseases to another is repulsive to some people, but unfortunately, the foolproof way to prevent passing on the disease is sexual abstinence. This can damper a person’s willingness to pursue an intimate relationship with another, because of the transmission of the virus, the lack of symptoms which indicate the deed, and the incurability of the disease. These diseases are truly a silent killer.