WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday they may have found a way to flush out herpes viruses from hiding -- offering a potential way to cure pesky and painful conditions from cold sores to shingles.
They discovered that a mysterious gene carried by the herpes simplex-1 virus -- the one that causes cold sores -- allows the virus to lay low in the nerves it infects.
It does so via microRNAs, little pieces of genetic material that regulate the activity of many viruses, the researchers report in the journal Nature.
It may be possible to "wake up" the virus and then kill it with standard antiviral drugs such as acyclovir, said Jennifer Lin Umbach of Duke University in North Carolina, who worked on the study.
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