Which drugs are effective against herpesviruses HSV, EBV, CMV, VZV, HHV6, HHV8?

[SWAlexander]

Just in case. Maybe I overlooked it in previous postings:
Antiviral Therapies for Herpesviruses: Current Agents and New Directions
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7728158/

 

[mitoMAN]

Brincidofovir

 

[SWAlexander]

Brincidofovir

Thank you. Here are details about TEMBEXA® (brincidofovir): https://www.chimerix.com/products/tembexa/

 

[SWAlexander]

Urgency and necessity of Epstein-Barr virus prophylactic vaccines

Abstract
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a γ-herpesvirus, is the first identified oncogenic virus, which establishes permanent infection in humans. EBV causes infectious mononucleosis and is also tightly linked to many malignant diseases. Various vaccine formulations underwent testing in different animals or in humans. However, none of them was able to prevent EBV infection and no vaccine has been approved to date. Current efforts focus on antigen selection, combination, and design to improve the efficacy of vaccines. EBV glycoproteins such as gH/gL, gp42, and gB show excellent immunogenicity in preclinical studies compared to the previously favored gp350 antigen. Combinations of multiple EBV proteins in various vaccine designs become more attractive approaches considering the complex life cycle and complicated infection mechanisms of EBV. Besides, rationally designed vaccines such as virus-like particles (VLPs) and protein scaffold-based vaccines elicited more potent immune responses than soluble antigens. In addition, humanized mice, rabbits, as well as nonhuman primates that can be infected by EBV significantly aid vaccine development. Innovative vaccine design approaches, including polymer-based nanoparticles, the development of effective adjuvants, and antibody-guided vaccine design, will further enhance the immunogenicity of vaccine candidates. In this review, we will summarize (i) the disease burden caused by EBV and the necessity of developing an EBV vaccine; (ii) previous EBV vaccine studies and available animal models; (iii) future trends of EBV vaccines, including activation of cellular immune responses, novel immunogen design, heterologous prime-boost approach, induction of mucosal immunity, application of nanoparticle delivery system, and modern adjuvant development.
More at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-022-00587-6

 

[rubix]

don't suppose there is any promising news on EBV lately? I am now on year 3 of active EBV and I feel quite bad every day, seemingly only getting worse as time goes on, and I just want to die (there's no good way to say it). Doctors can't do anything about it and don't even seem to understand EBV, or understand how disabling it really is, I'm lucky to have a supportive family, but there's nothing they can do either. My only hope is that the EBV just randomly goes back to being dormant forever, but there's no reason to think that's going to happen, now going on month 38.

 

[heapsreal]

don't suppose there is any promising news on EBV lately? I am now on year 3 of active EBV and I feel quite bad every day, seemingly only getting worse as time goes on, and I just want to die (there's no good way to say it). Doctors can't do anything about it and don't even seem to understand EBV, or understand how disabling it really is, I'm lucky to have a supportive family, but there's nothing they can do either. My only hope is that the EBV just randomly goes back to being dormant forever, but there's no reason to think that's going to happen, now going on month 38.

Have you been on antivirals at all?
Not always a cure but can improve one's function a few notches, but it can take awhile also.

 

[rubix]

Have you been on antivirals at all?
Not always a cure but can improve one's function a few notches, but it can take awhile also.

I tried 3 grams of valtrex per day for 4 or 5 months, it did not seem to provide any benefit, but I would have liked to continued it as I tolerated it well, and antivirals can sometimes take 6 months to be effective. But my doctor was reluctant to prescribe it in the first place, and was quickly ready to take me off of it. But I would much rather try something than nothing, what is doing nothing going to get me? I would like to try Famvir, but if my doctors didn't want me on valtrex, I don't see why they would prescribe me Famvir. Brincidofovir looks somewhat promising, but it's availability is extremely limited, and we have no idea if it would be effective in suppressing EBV, very little research has been concluded.

 

[heapsreal]

I tried 3 grams of valtrex per day for 4 or 5 months, it did not seem to provide any benefit, but I would have liked to continued it as I tolerated it well, and antivirals can sometimes take 6 months to be effective. But my doctor was reluctant to prescribe it in the first place, and was quickly ready to take me off of it. But I would much rather try something than nothing, what is doing nothing going to get me? I would like to try Famvir, but if my doctors didn't want me on valtrex, I don't see why they would prescribe me Famvir. Brincidofovir looks somewhat promising, but it's availability is extremely limited, and we have no idea if it would be effective in suppressing EBV, very little research has been concluded.

For what it's worth, I'm in the varicella, ebv, cmv sub group and never responded to valtrex. With famvir I did well at 500mg twice a day. I'm not sure why it helps me more than valtrex but famvir may have a broader range of effects for viruses like cmv and hhv6. The other thing with famvir is that it has an 18hr intracellular half life, so maybe that could be why it's helped me.

You definitely gave valtrex a good crack with a hefty dose.

If you can get onto something that increases nk function and t cells like immunovir, it may help along with antivirals. Personally found it hard to find a reliable and affordable source of immunovir. It's also called isoprinosine, neosine and there's a few other names, if your lucky to find a source.

 

[lyran]

I tried 3 grams of valtrex per day for 4 or 5 months, it did not seem to provide any benefit, but I would have liked to continued it as I tolerated it well, and antivirals can sometimes take 6 months to be effective. But my doctor was reluctant to prescribe it in the first place, and was quickly ready to take me off of it. But I would much rather try something than nothing, what is doing nothing going to get me? I would like to try Famvir, but if my doctors didn't want me on valtrex, I don't see why they would prescribe me Famvir. Brincidofovir looks somewhat promising, but it's availability is extremely limited, and we have no idea if it would be effective in suppressing EBV, very little research has been concluded.

Have you tried going the herbal route, like taking lomatium?

 

[rubix]

Have you tried going the herbal route, like taking lomatium?

I haven't tried lomatium, so might be worth a shot, couldn't hurt. I have tried many other natural antiviral supplements and I don't even remember all of them, like astragalus, elderberry, echinacea, garlic, monolaurin, l-lysine, and I've been taking lactoferrin for a year. They are all pretty cheap, and didn't seem to cause any noticeable side effects, but I don't think they do much against EBV, either, nothing seems to. But I might try to mix some of those back into my daily routine, because why not. I just wish we had some treatment options or something to look forward to, but EBV&ME/CFS are still not getting the attention they deserve, despite affecting tens of millions of people, if not hundreds of millions. Sorry to be a downer! Just getting more and more difficult to keep my spirits up as time goes on and nothing improves.

 

[linusbert]

what about allicin / allimax? or pure garlic?

 

[cheeseater]

Going by memory, the amino acid L-lysine has about a 30% success rate for combatting herpes. As good or better efficacy than most Rx drugs sold for the same purpose. Completely non-toxic. Worth a try. Very old school... Most MD's don't have a clue...

 

[L'engle]

Going by memory, the amino acid L-lysine has about a 30% success rate for combatting herpes. As good or better efficacy than most Rx drugs sold for the same purpose. Completely non-toxic. Worth a try. Very old school... Most MD's don't have a clue...

I've heard this anecdotally as well. The balance between lysine and arginine can affect cold sores. I've seen lip balm with lysine added. iirc chocolate is high in arginine and can increase cold sores. No idea about other systemic effects of h-viruses.

https://www.avogel.co.uk/health/imm...ne-rich-foods-to-avoid-if-you-get-cold-sores/

 

[Judee]

With famvir I did well at 500mg twice a day.

Did you say somewhere before this you were taking it with another antiviral or that you took another antiviral for a while before starting the famvir?

Do you think the other antiviral did most of the work and the famvir just worked as maintenance? I'm just wondering.

 

[heapsreal]

Did you say somewhere before this you were taking it with another antiviral or that you took another antiviral for a while before starting the famvir?

Do you think the other antiviral did most of the work and the famvir just worked as maintenance? I'm just wondering.

Famvir has done most of the work.
I was considering valcyte which is more specific to cmv and hhv6. I used valcyte several years back along with famvir after going through and extended crash/relapse and it helped.
I was considering valcyte as have had persistent headaches for along time. Along story short I was going to swap out lyrica for toprimate which didn't workout, so I went back on lyrica and have added toprimate. Lyrica is used for nerve pain etc and I'm using it for headaches. Toprimate is used for epilepsy and migraines and I'm using it for headaches. This combination seem to be helping. Just reducing the headaches/pain has reduced my fatigue noticeably. So I'm putting valcyte on the back burner for now but continue with famvir. The other reason valcyte is on the back burner is cost, generic from online pharmacy is $7 per pill.

 

[Judee]

The other reason valcyte is on the back burner is cost, generic from online pharmacy is $7 per pill.

That's why I was asking too. I cannot afford the valcyte. So you think the famvir works as well? Do you have HHV6? Even though I had mono at 13yo my last viral test showed in-range EBV titres but high (not massively so) HHV6 titres.

Thank you!!

 

[heapsreal]

That's why I was asking too. I cannot afford the valcyte. So you think the famvir works as well? Do you have HHV6? Even though I had mono at 13yo my last viral test showed in-range EBV titres but high (but not massively so) HHV6 titres.

Thank you!!

No hhv6 for me. Varicella virus and cmv. Initially I had ebv but even before I started antivirals I don't show up any life long igg antibodies even though I did not long after cfs onset.
My recent relapse was because of all the shipping issues due to covid etc and certain medical supplies were held up etc. I did go onto valtrex but it just doesn't do much. So I had a couple of years of intermittent use of famvir. But atleast 18 months supplies have been regular here in Australia.
I honestly thought generic valcyte would have been alot cheaper by now but....

 

[cheeseater]

I've heard this anecdotally as well. The balance between lysine and arginine can affect cold sores. I've seen lip balm with lysine added. iirc chocolate is high in arginine and can increase cold sores. No idea about other systemic effects of h-viruses.

Nothing anecdotal about amino acid L-lysine being effective against Herpes. Problem is most of the studies sponsored by drug companies do it all wrong. Should be 3g/day total. Best to spread it out, so 1000mg 3 times a day with 250mg vitamin C. (Lysine also accomodates absorption of calcium, btw.)

First study they are using too little lysine and no vitamin C
Second study shows benefit of 3g/day with no vitamin C
Pharmaceutical companies do not want anyone to know about lysine for herpes, but word has been out for 40 years, just very few people listening.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6419779/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3115841/

Not a conspiracy theorist about drug companies, but some things are pretty obvious. Like I said, it will not work for everybody.

 

[Judee]

even before I started antivirals I don't show up any life long igg antibodies

Do you think you have an IgG antibody deficiency maybe? (Is there such a thing?)
I'm IgM deficient and one doctor and one lab said that could impact testing results for me.

Also a little off topic but I was reading a lot of comments on Amazon regarding B2 and many of them mention that it helps with their migraines...sometimes even that it was doctor recommended.

Maybe it wouldn't do anything for you but I thought I'd mention it.

Of course, there are threads here with warnings about it possibly causing depression so maybe check those out before buying any.

Edit: Found this webmd page with more comments regarding B2, even some warnings: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supp...957-riboflavin?drugid=957&drugname=RIBOFLAVIN

 

[cheeseater]

Do you think you have an IgG antibody deficiency maybe? (Is there such a thing?)
I'm IgM deficient and one doctor and one lab said that could impact testing results for me.

Also a little off topic but I was reading a lot of comments on Amazon regarding B2 and many of them mention that it helps with their migraines...sometimes even that it was doctor recommended.

Maybe it wouldn't do anything for you but I thought I'd mention it.

Of course, there are threads here with warnings about it possibly causing depression so maybe check those out before buying any.

I have a friend at UCSF and they are experimenting with 400mg B2 (riboflavin) and 400mg magnesium once a day for migraines.

IgG subclass deficiency is definitely a thing. Four IgG subclasses. 1,2,3 & 4.