New mothers who died of herpes could have been infected by one surgeon

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59338721

by CommanderData • 5 years ago

12 3 5 years ago

bbc.co.uk

This disease is incredibly common, it's estimated 87% and higher of the US population is carrying some form of HSV.

The closest cure we have at the moment is a therapeutic vaccine by removing the virus in cells - being researched by Dr. Keith Jerome at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center virologist, if trials go to plan we're 7-8 years away from a cure possibly less if it gets more attention/funding. https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/08/herpes...

People are too quick to destigmatize this disease for something trivial however for many this carries life long issues. If you are in the UK you can sign this petition to ask the government to give more attention to this issue: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/592262 or you can donate to Fred Hutchinson's trial.

garyclarke27• 5 years ago

The Healthcare profession needs to change it's blame-game, cover-up culture to become much more open and transparent when these kind of incidents occur - much more like the Airline industry. Many deaths could be saved if the causes were properly identified eg the second death from Herpes here might have been avoided if they had been aware of the previous cause and treated her with antivirals instead of antibiotics.

Vecr• 5 years ago

Probably the best thing to do would be to test for IgG against most common herpesviruses, and give valaciclovir if all of them are not found. I don't think anyone wants to eat the cost though, possibly the United States Preventive Services Task Force could get involved and mandate it's offering. The UK has less money than the US though, so the NHS might not be able to.

New mothers who died of herpes could have been infected by one surgeon

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