SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Herpes Relief Claimed for Drug

A Finnish skin specialist said last week that he and other researchers had successfully tested a drug that gave considerable relief to sufferers from both strains of herpes.

Allan Lassus said researchers outside Finland found the drug, Genivir, also relieved virulent skin rashes in patients with AIDS.

He said he had tested the preparation in the form of a cream on 200 patients with genital herpes and 60 with common herpes and found it reduced the length of the attacks.

The herpes virus can appear in the form of painful cold sores on the lips, in the eyes or on the genitals. There are two strains, both incurable, one of which is a sexually transmitted disease commonly known as genital herpes.

“It reduced lip herpes episodes from the usual 10 days to just over five days and genital herpes from seven days to 3 1/2 days,” Lassus said. The compound had an antiviral and immunological effect.