Why Some People Experience Frequent Cold Sores: New Research on HSV-1 Variants
Ever wonder why one person with oral herpes rarely gets cold sores while others experience frequent, recurring outbreaks? New research conducted by a team at Penn State indicates that differences in gene expression are responsible for varying presentations of herpes symptoms.
Mangold et al. (2021)’s research focuses on HSV-1. One researcher from the team, Moriah Sparza, discussed the subtle differences of HSV-1 variants. This study focused on three variants of HSV-1 that are “known to differ in their ability to cause disease in the nervous system” (Penn State, 2021). The findings indicate that different variants of HSV-1 cause different patterns of gene expression—expressing genes at different rates and quantities which might be responsible for severity of symptoms from person-to-person.
Candidly, this isn’t all that surprising to me, but it’s validating to see research that supports long held assumptions or suspicions. More importantly, it’s encouraging to see researchers who care to investigate the questions that many folks with herpes and their partners hold—especially since this is science, as opposed to stigma. It’s all interconnected.