ORALLY-ADMINISTERED HSV-SPECIFIC TRANSFER-FACTOR (TF) PREVENTS GENITAL OR LABIAL HERPES RELAPSES

Forty-four patients suffering from genital (22) and labial (22) herpes were orally treated with HSV-1/2-specific transfer factor(TF). TF was obtained by in vitro replication of a HSV-1/2-specific bovine dialysa ble lymphocyte extract. Treatment was administered bi-weekly the first 2 weeks, and then weekly for 6 months, most patients received 2-3 cou rses. The total observation period for all patients before treatment w as 26660 days, with 544 relapses, and a relapse index of 61.2, whereas the cumulative observation period during and after treatment was 1694 5 days, with a total of 121 relapsing episodes and a cumulative RI of 21.4 (P<0.0001). Results were equally significant when the 2 groups of patients (labial and genital) were considered separately. These obser vations confirm previous results obtained with bovine HSV-specific TF, and warrant further studies to establish HSV-specific TF as a choice of treatment for preventing herpes recurrences.