What is "wild type" and how is it different/tested?

[struggle83]

I keep hearing about wild type hsv.

What is wild type?

How does it differ from the regular type?

Does it respond to antivirals?

Does it show up in PCR DNA tests?

[hfighter]

Hi struggle83

I'm not sure, but in order of your questions:

Wild type: a herpes virus (VHS-1 or VHS-2) that is active all the time because it has gained resistence to commun antivirals like Acyclovir.

What does different to reglar type: it is hard to treat due to its resistence.

Response to antivirals: it does not response to aciclovir (thanks God we have famciclovir and other treatments so they can be used in these cases).

PCR DNA: maybe the same the regular does.

Note: As my doctor told me if you are having so much ob is more like to be caused by your immune status rhather that the virus itself. The regular type becomes a "wild type" when you are immunocomprised and have taken acyclivir long term (like inn supresive theraphy) so the virus never stop to replicate even when you are "punching" it with aciclovyr.

At last.... that what I understand

[death2herpes]

you have that backwards. wild type is generic type that has NOT acquired any special characteristics (like resistance) through mutation.

[struggle83]

you have that backwards. wild type is generic type that has NOT acquired any special characteristics (like resistance) through mutation.

So then why would I worry about having it? If it is NOT resistant than why would it ever bother anyone since it would be easily managed with anti-virals? These are serious questions. I am not being sarcastic.

[death2herpes]

you should not worry about wild type. it has no resistance. wild type is the good type ; )

[camomile]

I think, this is a reasonable question (struggle's).

It seems there are milder infections in some people and intractable ones. In fact, there are H that remain asymptomatic. Whilst I appreciate what Hfighter mentions, I am beginning to wonder if it is exclusively and solely the hosts "immune function" which would determine the sequelae.

Knowing H seems to respond to strict H dietary therapy and certain amino acid therapy well, that may be to do with the hosts body chemistry. Some ppl are lucky enough to have the body chemistry which H dislikes and that makes H dormant?

Obviously I am a total lay person and wouldn't claim this to be accurate but I lived long enough with H. I don't particularly think you need to have an obvious weak immunity to suffer from H at all (though I admit immuno-suppressed individuals with HIV would suffer significantly within reason)

It's more than just one level (immunity) is the causation of intractable H knowing the body is a complex machine. It's multi-factorial including immune system and many other factors.

As for strains of H, I'm really not sure. I did hear that HPV has hundreds of strains. As some ppl claim on this site that how bad you would experience, may be to do with how bad your original exposure to H infection?

It's always interesting when someone isn't afraid of asking. xx

[death2herpes]

the frequency and severity of recurrence is a function of many variables like initial viral inoculating load (and therefore established latent pool), immune system response (there is a particular known genetic characteristic for example which predisposes one to more frequent outbreaks which can now be tested for, i don't recall the details but this is discussed in another thread), and so on.

but the question was asked specifically about wild type and it has been answered. this is not HSV-specific terminology. any virus of wild type means it has not developed any special properties through mutation selection pressure (like drug resistance), it is just ordinary virus type, that's all.

[struggle83]

Ok, thanks for the responses. I won't worry about wild but I will worry about resistance and genetic response. I think they can test the viral DNA for level of resistance, yes?

[death2herpes]

i have no idea about the expense or availability of that kind of testing. but HSV rarely develops resistance even when it is subjected to the selection pressure of suppressive antiviral therapy so a random infection will rarely be with resistant type. so i think that unless you have (a) been taking suppressive antivirals for a long time and ( have noticed a marked decrease in their effectiveness there is no reason to consider this.

anyway, i think if you had a vatrex-resistant strain if you were to discontinue suppressive antivirals you would remove the selection filter so wild type would probably reemerge. i am not sure why you want to conduct exotic tests for resistance if there is nothing unusual about your symptoms or how they respond to antivirals.

[camomile]

there is a particular known genetic characteristic for example which predisposes one to more frequent outbreaks which can now be tested for

You must be a biological graduate student

Would you care to share the link of the thread describing such "genetic" aspect in humans?

Thanks a million x x x x

[camomile]

And another...PCR DNA test, is that only done in research levels at the moment? Am I correct in this? Cheers

[struggle83]

You must be a biological graduate student

Would you care to share the link of the thread describing such "genetic" aspect in humans?

Thanks a million x x x x

Do you mean a biology graduate? It is well known that genetics play a role in almost every aspect of our lives including medicine and disease. Soon, you will undergo a DNA test before you are given medicines in order to guage treatment effectiveness. This is already being done for some medications today. The days of the antiquated doctor are numbered. After all, the doctor has been around since the Greeks (Hippocrates). It's time they were modernized (and phased out) like the rest of the world. Good riddance.

[camomile]

You are always so ahead of us, Struggle

I agree completely with you there. I oft find that diagnostic processes are unreasonable to patients who suffer from serious chronic illnesses. Sometimes, it takes years to diagnose something or worse, if doctors cannot find what they hoped they should be able to find in patients, doctors think patients are dismissed as "mental". There seems to be awful lot of frustration and stress in patients not because of diseases they suffer from but the attitude of "Doctors" who are fixated on their textbook approach which diseases tend to "ignore".

I agree that medical approach to different diseases is often archaic (only scratching the surface) and drug therapies often not effective and causes more suffering to patients.

In other level, if doctors are not helpful or if they don't care, they shouldn't call themselves "doctors". Certainly, they should remind themselves of Hippocratic Oath sworn when they graduated from the Medical School.

[struggle83]

Check out www.inod.org

Autopsies reveal that approximately 40% of diagnoses are incorrect. In two-thirds of those cases, medical help could have been provided had the diagnosis been correct.

[death2herpes]

You must be a biological graduate student

Would you care to share the link of the thread describing such "genetic" aspect in humans?

Thanks a million x x x x

i was referring to herpesDX, which tests for a particular genetic mutation: http://www.herpes-coldsores.com/messageforum/showthread.php?24976

nah, i have a phd in theoretical physics so this is not my field at all. i just read about herpes like most people here. my understanding is superficial.

[struggle83]

i was referring to herpesDX, which tests for a particular genetic mutation: http://www.herpes-coldsores.com/messageforum/showthread.php?24976

nah, i have a phd in theoretical physics so this is not my field at all. i just read about herpes like most people here. my understanding is superficial.

I've also got a degree in physics. We should chat offline. I don't work in the field but I would be interested in hearing about you.

[camomile]

Check out www.inod.org

Your research skill knows no bound!! Great find........Well done & heartfelt thanks x x x x x

[camomile]

i was referring to herpesDX, which tests for a particular genetic mutation: http://www.herpes-coldsores.com/messageforum/showthread.php?24976

nah, i have a phd in theoretical physics so this is not my field at all. i just read about herpes like most people here. my understanding is superficial.

Thanks for that Sooooo Helpful Have a great evening x x x x x

[death2herpes]

I've also got a degree in physics. We should chat offline. I don't work in the field but I would be interested in hearing about you.

yeah, we should. i am not currently working in the field either. might go back to academics though. i was mostly doing QFT / diff geo stuff (BRST, ghosts, anomalies and index theorems, etc). what were you studying?

[struggle83]

yeah, we should. i am not currently working in the field either. might go back to academics though. i was mostly doing QFT / diff geo stuff (BRST, ghosts, anomalies and index theorems, etc). what were you studying?

My focus in school was particle physics and QM. The school I went to had a strong particle physics faculty with several profs working at McMaster on some cutting edge projects so that made for good inspiration/motivation. I am not familiar with BRST, ghosts, anomalies and index theorems. You will have to explain those to me. The maths at graduate level was most challenging. I now design global corporate infrastructure for Fortune 100 companies. A bit of a departure but both require extreme analytical skills that can't be learned. I also taught college for a while. I am also an amateur bodybuilder (remnant from athletics) and music recording artist (songwriter, producer and guitars). I sure miss college. Things were simpler back then!

[death2herpes]

My focus in school was particle physics and QM. The school I went to had a strong particle physics faculty with several profs working at McMaster on some cutting edge projects so that made for good inspiration/motivation. I am not familiar with BRST, ghosts, anomalies and index theorems. You will have to explain those to me. The maths at graduate level was most challenging. I now design global corporate infrastructure for Fortune 100 companies. A bit of a departure but both require extreme analytical skills that can't be learned. I also taught college for a while. I am also an amateur bodybuilder (remnant from athletics) and music recording artist (songwriter, producer and guitars). I sure miss college. Things were simpler back then!

well, any skill is learned, by definition ; )

it's kind of hard to explain those things in a cliff notes version. BRST is a symmetry (similar to supersymmetry) involving anticommuting parameters (ghost fields). it acts as a proxy symmetry to replace broken gauge symmetry when one fixes a gauge to do the functional integral (quantization). anomalies are basically violation of some classical conservation laws when one quantizes a theory. the violating term is usually some topological invariant. index theorems relate such invariants to index of certain differential operators (an index is the difference between the # of zero modes of an operator and its adjoint). actually, there are many interesting ways to relate these things. but this is not the place to discuss it. but if you are interested i'd suggest "anomalies in quantum field theory" by bertlmann, for a good introduction which i think is as close to self-contained w/o being useless as you will find on this subject.