0:00
Hello, I'm Professor
Lawrence Stanberry, chairman
of the Department of Pediatrics
at Columbia University in the city
of New York, United States.
I'm pleased to be with
you today to speak
on the topic of herpes
simplex virus vaccines
as part of the Henry
Stewart Talks series.
0:20
In the first slide, we discuss
the challenges to the development
of a herpes simplex virus vaccine.
First, the audience needs
to be aware of the fact
that there are two herpes simplex
viruses, HSV type 1 and HSV type 2.
These viruses commonly infect
mucosal surfaces such as the skin,
but they also spread
into nervous tissue,
and the disease pathogenesis largely
involves skin and nervous tissue.
Viremia, that is, the spread
of virus in the bloodstream,
is not an important
element in the pathogenesis
in an immuno-competent
host, that's an individual
whose immune system is intact.
Infection due to herpes simplex
results in a lifelong infection.
The initial infection
may be asymptomatic
or clinically apparent.
Recurrent infections are exceedingly
common, sometimes symptomatic,
sometimes asymptomatic.
And they occur despite the fact
host has made a full complement
of immune responses.
So one of the biggest challenges
to developing an effective herpes
vaccine is the recognition that
natural infection does not result
in lifelong immunity protecting
against recurrent disease,
raising the question of how
do we improve upon immunity
that does result from infection.
