AIDS and Hepititis C can be cured in some people despite being in their DNA, right? Then what about herpes?

I thought herpes could never be cured because it's in your DNA. But AIDS and Hepetitis C are in your DNA, and as I understand it people have been completely cured. Right? So is a cure for herpes possible/on the way?

1) HIV cannot be cured. However, the virus can be suppressed with anti-retroviral therapy and all traces of virus eliminated from bloodwork (viral load is one monitoring parameter of HIV treatment along with CD4 count). Usually though, the virus is latent in certain cells. However, people can go long times being symptom free (and don't progress to aids, so called long term non-progressors like Magic Johnson). So, not technically a cure, but close

2) Hep C can actually be cured. Sort of. Interferon therapy can lead to complete remission of hep C and disappearance of the virus. I'm not sure what the long term data looks like yet as this therapy has only been around since 2000 or so. But it's no fun to undergo the treatment.

3) Herpes is difficult because it infects nerved cells and lays latent, only reactivating in times of stress. It would be nearly impossible to eradicate it without destroying those nerve cells, which would not be very good. There are several anti-virals that can treat and suppress HSV. Given that, in the grand scheme of things, HSV is more of an inconvenience than a significant health threat (unless you're so unlucky as to have HSV encephalitis), I doubt we'll be seeing any significant new treatments coming down the pipeline anytime soon.

I am not sure what you have stated is exactly true. Herpes I don't believe has a cure, and I forget the reasons even after I did a report on it in school. HIV/AIDS however, I am not sure if that can be cured but I have heard rumors that it is possible. Example: Magic Johnson has been tested after he contracted HIV and from what I understand, no traces of HIV/AIDS can be found in his system. Now with that said, it doesn't mean he is cured, it is just stating that there are no traces in his system. If I am incorrect on this, please let me know and I would be more than glad to read any research given on this article

Hello, I do not know where you found out aids has a cure!!!!! PLEASE let us know!!! We need to spread the word, no one has heard of that yet..............Herpes... you take pills so you don't expose partner...doesn't always work....SOMEDAY.... Maybe a cure for all the above and more!..God Bless!! Mary

There is no cure for AIDS or for hepatitis C either, although only AIDS is caused by a retrovirus (HIV) that is incorporated into cellular DNA. Some people do clear hepatitis C, though it's not clear why.

Herpes (HSV) is not a retrovirus and is not in your DNA. Rather, once you have been exposed, the virus lives in small areas of your nervous system called dorsal root ganglia. It is usually dormant, probably held in check by the immune system, but can occasionally erupt and cause breakouts. Incidentally, VZV or varicella virus, which causes chicken pox during the initial infection, is the same way. Once you've had chicken pox, you always have VZV living in your body. In some people, it breaks out of its dormancy and causes a condition called shingles.

It would be nice to find a cure for any of these diseases. A Nobel Prize is undoubtedly waiting for anyone who does.

Some people contain a genetic mutation (CCR5d5 I think) which makes them 'resistant' to the devastating effects of AIDS, but they still become infected. They have limited symptomology and never become, what is termed, "progressors".

HepC does not integrate into your DNA (unlike the retrovirus that causes AIDS). In this case, the long latency period of the disease exhibits no symptoms to the infected host. The problem with HepC is that it is fighting a war with your immune system, and being that it constantly mutates, it constantly causes the immune system to redeploy a whole new set of immune factors to try to control the disease. This is why it takes so long for the disease to progress to a state whereby you start having symptoms which start out as glomerulonephritis or vasculitis. Most people have a long latency period from initial infection to the actual presentation of symptoms. If the disease becomes chronic, which happens in 1-5% of the the people, it can lead to cirrhosis or hepatic cancer.

HepC *can* be cleared from the system, but it is not fully understood. It is related to CD8+ activity (or so they think as of now), but the actual 'why' is not known at this time. What percentage of people who clear the disease is not really known, since most people don't know they have it to begin with.

In short, if you have them, you have AIDS for life and most likely, HepC as well.

Herpes basically lives in your nervous system, and when the conditions are right (stress, too much sunlight, hormones), it can reactivate itself. Because it is not 'seen' by the immune system (the immune system has no access to the nervous system), it can't do anything to eradicate the infection. Hence, you have it for life. Even chickenpox, which might reappear in later life as shingles. There is no cure on the horizon for herpes.

There is no cure for AIDS, Hep C, or herpes and they are not "in your dna". These viruses use their hosts replicative enzymes & genetic material in order to reproduce but they do not become part of their host's genome. Herpes has the ability to remain latent, usually in nerve ganglia. In simple terms, herpes can kind of lay in wait in certain nerve cells and then manifest at different times over the course of a person's lifetime. Some people hardly ever have outbreaks of herpes and some people with HIV, known as slow or non-progressors, have unique and rare cell receptors that inhibit the progress of the disease and the symptoms thereof. This does not mean that these people are cured or free of the disease.

No all the way around. None of these combines with or alters your DNA. People aren't really cured of any of these diseases, though spontaneous remissions have rarely been reported. The viruses do hijack your cells and their nucleic acid uses your cells for their own purposes. Perhaps that's where your confusion came from.