UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

Viruses were first discovered in the 18th century, but many aspects of viruses are still questionable, such as the way some viruses replicate, infect or reproduce. Overtime,the scientific community has been able to demystify the virus by first describing its structure, the various types of viruses present in the environment and eventually discovering vaccines. Albeit this research, there are still many incurable viral infections, many of which are sexually transmitted. One such sexually transmitted infection is Herpes Simplex Virus, Type 2. The Herpes Simplex Virus is a highly contagious virus that is passed on from one person to another via direct contact, i.e. sexual contact with multiple partners, having another sexually transmitted infection (STI) or a weakened immune system. Once contracted, the HSV-2 will always live in an infected individual’s nerve cells, and can cause regular outbreaks of symptoms in the genital areas. There are a few medications that can possibly be used in order to control the spread of the virus, but none that can diminish or eliminate the virus completely overtime. Thus, in order to design a vaccine that can potentially cure the virus is the primary goal. This paper defines the various techniques previously used in order to diagnose and treat the virus, and goes on to further explain by giving experimental techniques of how those methods can be applied together to research a possible cure for HSV-2.