+1-617-394-8820 contact@baybiosciences.com

Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Samples

by | Mar 26, 2023 | News Releases | 0 comments

Bay Biosciences provides high quality, clinical grade, cryogenically preserved sera (serum) and matched swab specimens in universal transport medium (UTM-RT) from herpes simplex virus (HSV) patients.

The sera (serum) specimens are processed from herpes simplex virus (HSV) patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Overview

Herpes results from infection with the herpes simplex virus (HSV). It causes sores or blisters in or around the mouth or genitals, alongside other symptoms.

The herpes simplex virus, also known as HSV, is a viral infection that causes genital and oral herpes.

Many patients live with asymptomatic HSV, which means they have the virus without ever having an outbreak or active episode of herpes.

Others might experience occasional episodes of small, fluid-filled blisters or sores.

These blisters most commonly appear on the genitals or mouth and lips, but they can also show up on hand or fingers and other parts of the body.

HSV can be sexually transmitted, but the virus can also be transmitted in other ways. There’s a lot of stigma around herpes, but the virus is actually very common, and nothing to be ashamed of.

HSV Statistics

According to estimates from the World Health Organization:

  • 67 percent of the world’s population under age 50 had oral or genital HSV-1 in 2016
  • 13 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 49 had HSV-2 in 2016

Other research notes that over 90 percent of adults have HSV-1 antibodies by the time they reach their 50s.

Experts have yet to find a cure for herpes, but antivirals and home remedies can help ease the severity of symptoms. Antiviral medication may also lead to fewer herpes episodes.

Types of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)

There are two types of herpes simplex virus (HSC):

  • Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes oral herpes, which usually affects the mouth and surrounding skin but can also affect the genital region.
  • HSV-2 or herpes simplex virus type 2 typically causes genital herpes, this is usually sexually transmitted.

There is no cure for herpes, but treatment can help manage symptoms and reduce the likelihood of outbreaks recurring and transmission to partners.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a common virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 67% of people under age 50 globally have an HSV-1 infection, and 13% under age 50 have an HSV-2 infection.

HSV-1 is usually associated with cold sores and HSV-2 is usually associated with genital herpes, both types of the virus can be transmitted through oral or genital contact.

Most patients living with genital herpes actually have HSV-1, since the virus can easily be transmitted through oral-to-genital contact. HSV-2 less commonly causes oral episodes, or cold sores, but it’s still possible.

HSV-1

Oral herpes or HSV-1 can transmit or contract through direct contact with a herpes sore, saliva, or other bodily secretions during an episode. If you’re shedding the virus, someone can contract it through direct contact with the site of the infection.

Examples of direct contact include:

  • Kissing
  • Oral sex
  • Other skin-to-skin contact

In other words, if you touch a partner’s cold sore and then touch your own face or genitals shortly afterward, you could contract the virus. Many children contract the virus after being kissed or touched on the face by an adult with a cold sore.

The virus can, in theory, be transmitted through shared lip balm, razors, or drinkware and eating utensils, but this is rare. Earlier estimates suggest the virus can only live outside the body for a few hours to a few days.

If a person with a cold sore drank from a glass and immediately handed it to someone else, and the other person put their mouth to the same place on the glass, they could potentially contract herpes. But the chances of this happening are realtively low.

Most of the time, the virus is transmitted through contact with sores or the site of the infection during viral shedding.

HSV-2

You can transmit or contract HSV-2, or genital herpes, through direct contact with a herpes sore, saliva, or other bodily secretions during an episode. HSV-2 can also be transmitted during viral shedding.

Direct contact might include:

  • Kissing
  • Oral sex
  • Sharing sex toys during a sexual encounter
  • Penetrative sex
  • Other skin-to-skin contact at the infection site

Remember: Though many people think of HSV-1 as oral herpes and HSV-2 as genital herpes, both types of the virus can cause oral or genital episodes.

Genital Herpes

Genital herpes is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI), with roughly 572,000 new infections developing each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, an individual with genital herpes might not have symptoms or have only mild symptoms. Most people may not know they have it. Approximately 87.4% of 14-49 year-olds who have genital herpes do not have a clinical diagnosis.

The characteristic symptoms of genital herpes are small blistering lesions, also called cold sores when on the face, usually found around the genitals, rectum, or mouth.

The fluid-filled blisters burst and then turn into small, painful sores that can last for two-to-four weeks after they break open.

Sometimes, particularly with their first outbreak of genital herpes, individuals can have additional symptoms which affect their whole bodies, such as:

After the patient has an initial outbreak of genital herpes, they are likely to have more because herpes never goes away entirely. Later outbreaks of herpes are generally milder than the first.

Genital herpes is primarily caused by HSV-2 but it can also be caused by HSV-1.

HSV-2 infection is usually spread only by genital contact with someone who has a genital HSV-2 infection. A person can also get a genital HSV-1 infection by having oral sex with someone who has an oral HSV-1 infection.

The genital herpes virus cannot spread through general contact with objects, such as toilets, doorknobs, or towels.

Oral Herpes

More than half of American adults have oral herpes. Some estimates say up to 80% of American adults have oral herpes.

Oral herpes is primarily caused by HSV-1, although it is also possible to have an HSV-2 infection around the mouth.

A patient with an oral herpes outbreak may first feel itching, burning, or tingling around the mouth, lips, or tongue. Later, cold sores or small blisters may develop in these areas or anywhere on the skin.

Roughly four to six days after these cold sores start leaking, they start healing by forming a crust. Outbreaks of oral herpes can last for two to three weeks, which can be shorter than the two to six weeks of a genital herpes outbreak.

Herpes Viral Shedding

If someone develop herpes simplex virus (HSV), the body produces particles of virus that can be transmitted to others. The virus sheds from sores during an episode, but it also sheds at other times when you have no sores or obvious symptoms. You may not even know you have HSV.

A research suggests shedding happens on:

  • 10 percent of days if you have asymptomatic HSV
  • 20 percent of days if you have symptomatic HSV

But various factors can affect viral shedding, including:

  • The type of HSV and where you experience symptoms. HSV-1 that affects the genitals tends to involve less frequent shedding than HSV-2 that affects the genitals, for example.
  • How long you’ve had HSV shedding tends to decrease with time. If you’ve had HSV for nearly 10 years, for instance, you’ll likely shed the virus less frequently than someone who contracted it recently.
  • The immune health. If the patient is immunocompromised, they may shed the virus more frequently.


Causes of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)

If the herpes simplex virus (HSV) is present on the skin, it can easily pass from person to person through contact with the moist skin of the mouth and genitals, including the anus.

The virus may also spread through contact with other areas of the skin and the eyes.

An individual cannot contract HSV by generally touching an object or a surface, such as a washbasin or a towel.

The infection can spread in the following ways:

  • Having vaginal or anal sex without using barrier protection, such as a condom
  • Sharing sex toys
  • Having any other oral or genital contact with a person who has herpes

The virus is most contagious between when symptoms first appear and before they heal. Less commonly, a person can transmit the virus when symptoms are not present.

If a person with genital herpes has sores while giving birth, the virus can pass on to the baby.

HSV and HIV

Patients with genital herpes have a higher risk of contracting and passing on HIV, as sores in the skin can facilitate HIV’s ability to infect the body.

HSV-2 increases the number of CD4 cells in the genital lining where HSV-2 lesions occur, which can raise the risk of infection if a person is exposed to HIV.

Also, patients with HIV have weakened immune system, increasing the risk of more severe complications.

If a patient has oral herpes and a weakened immune system, they may have a higher risk of developing keratitis, a type of eye inflammation, or encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain.

When a person has a weakened immune system and genital herpes, there is, rarely, a higher risk of developing inflammation of the brain, eyes, esophagus, lungs, or liver, as well as widespread infection.


Signs and Symptoms Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) doesn’t always cause symptoms. Any symptoms you do notice, and their severity, will generally depend on whether you’re experiencing a primary or recurrent infection.

Patients who develop symptoms of herpes may first experience tingling, itching, or burning, then notice sores or blisters forming around the mouth or genitals.

Symptoms tend to develop 2–20 days after exposure to the virus.

Symptoms of a primary infection, or first episode, will generally appear anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after exposure to the virus.

Primary episodes often include flu-like symptoms, such as:

Patients notice some tingling, burning, or itching at the site of the infection before small, painful blisters appear. There could be one blister or a small cluster. These blisters will eventually burst and crust over before they begin to heal.

The blisters that develop during a primary infection may take up to 6 weeks to fully heal. These blisters can still transmit the virus until they’ve healed completely.

Recurrent Herpes Symptoms

Some patients living with herpes simplex virus (HSV) only ever have one episode, while others continue to have occasional episodes every several months or so.

Since your body begins to produce antibodies for the virus, recurrent episodes often become less frequent with time. They also tend to involve less severe symptoms that improve more rapidly:

  • Blisters that appear during a recurrent episode may completely heal within several days rather than several weeks.
  • The blisters may be less noticeable or painful during recurrent episodes.If the HSV patient have had a few episodes, they may begin to notice early signs at the site of the infection.Following signs generally show up a few hours or days before blisters appear:

    Taking antiviral medication as soon as the patients notice symptoms could help prevent or shorten the episode.


Symptoms of Oral Herpes

Oral herpes causes blisters, sometimes called fever sores or cold sores, to develop in or around the lips and mouth.

Sometimes these blisters form elsewhere on the face or tongue, and more rarely on other areas of skin.

The sores usually last 2–3 weeks at a time before clearing up.

Symptoms of Genital Herpes

In genital herpes the sores tend to develop on the penis, around or inside the vagina, on the buttocks, or on the anus, although they can form on other areas of skin as well.

Herpes can also cause pain when urinating, and changes in vaginal discharge.

First time the patient develops the sores, they may last 2–6 weeks before clearing up.


Diagnosis of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)

A healthcare provider can usually make a diagnosis of genital herpes based on a physical exam and a history of the patients sexual activity.

To confirm a diagnosis, a doctor will likely take a swab sample from an active sore. One or more tests of these samples are used to see if you have herpes simplex virus (HSV), infection and show whether the infection is HSV-1 or HSV-2.

Other medical tests, such as blood tests, can find the herpes simplex virus, when the patients does not have sores.

Treatment of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)

There’s no cure for genital herpes. Treatment with prescription antiviral pills may be used for the following:

  • Help sores heal during a first outbreak
  • Lower the frequency of recurrent outbreaks
  • Lessen the severity and duration of symptoms in recurrent outbreaks
  • Reduce the chance of passing the herpes virus to a partner

Commonly prescribed medicines used for genital herpes include the following:

  • Acyclovir (Zovirax)
  • Famciclovir
  • Valacyclovir (Valtrex)

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Samples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

Including fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

We can also procure most human bio-specimens, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

  • 日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。