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
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
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