�Van Andel Institute (VAI) researchers have found that curcumin, a component of the curry spice curcuma longa, blocks herpes virus simplex virus (HSV-1) infections that commonly result in facial moth-eaten sores. Finding out how curcumin blocks the infections will be key to developing a treatment for cold painful sufferers.
"We found that cells treated with curcumin did non support herpes simplex computer virus infections very well," aforesaid Michigan State University graduate student Sebla Kutluay, lead-in author of the findings published in Virology world Health Organization is complemental her thesis research at Van Andel Institute. "Now we want to determine how curcumin blocks the infections."
There are two types of herpes simplex virus: HSV-1, which usually results in facial cold sores or fever blisters, and HSV-2, commonly associated with venereal herpes. The VAI findings focused on HSV-1, which affects more than half of Americans. Resulting cold sores crapper be painful, unsightly, and recur oft.
"This isn't a recipe for a remedy all the same," said VAI Scientific Investigator and Graduate School Dean Steven J. Triezenberg, Ph.D., head of the science lab that promulgated the findings. "Applying turmeric or groom to cold sores won't have an effect. Once we square off what is happening to block the infections at the cellular level, we'll be finisher to development a discourse."
Established by Jay and Betty Van Andel in 1996, Van Andel Institute is an independent research organization dedicated to preserving, enhancing and expanding the frontiers of medical science, and to achieving excellence in education by probing primal issues of education and the learning process.
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