Natural Herpes Treatment

A “magic” herb, Carissa Edulis,  that drew thousands of people  to a remote Loliondo village in Tanzania was identified by Kenyan scientists a few years ago as a cure for a drug-resistant strain of a sexually transmitted disease, gonorrhoea. This herb also is believed to cure many other diseases besides gonorrhoea.  The Kamba refer to as mukawa or mutote and use it for chest pains, while the Nandi boil the leaves and bark to treat breast cancer, headache and chest pains.

Researchers discovered the plant could be used for the treatment of the  herpes virus. Led by Dr Festus M Tolo of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), the team from the University of Nairobi and the National Museums of Kenya found the herb could provide an alternative remedy for herpes infections. 

“An extract preparation from the roots of Carissa edulis, a medicinal plant locally growing in Kenya, has exhibited remarkable anti-herpes virus activity for both wild type and drug resistant strains,” they reported in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Conventional medical practices normally prescribe Acyclovir ointment or other topical medications to treat herpes outbreaks.

Recently some new research emerged indicating that nature may provide an alternative solution. This remedy supposedly works faster than any of the conventional  mainstream treatments. I will explain further on why I use the word “supposedly”.

For some believers in natural cures, honey has long been regarded as  a natural wound healer and infection fighter. An unnamed researcher treated patients with Acyclovir for one herpes outbreak and honey for another.  Overall healing time with honey was 43 percent better than with Acyclovir for sores on the lips and 59 percent better for genital sores. This news sounds good, but I take this report  with a fair amount of skepticism.

This news report does not contain many details, such as the name of the researcher, the number of patients involved,  references to any peer reviews of the study or if this study had any official sanction, so for me, this puts the article I discovered on the Internet  in question. When you are suffering from herpes it is difficult sometimes remain a little skeptical when hope is presented, but there are real clinical studies of alternative herpes treatments on record and the hopeful investigator needs to sort herpes simplex fact from fiction.

I personally would experiment with honey on a herpes lesion if I were curious enough, but would never expect this “natural treatment” to prevent spreading the infection. A herpes sufferer must remain vigilant to never infect another person.

Zovirax, Acyclovir, Valtrex and Famvir are doctor prescribed drugs that are helpful for some people. These drugs can either be taken everday as a “suppressant” or only when an outbreak occurs. This is referred to as “episodic”. These drugs do have possible side-effects and can be very costly.

Dynamiclear is an antiseptic sulphate based solution which contains copper as a trace metal in an aqueous herbal base. It is applied topically to the site of an active lesion only once during the outbreak, instead of multiple times as you do with prescription salves.

The Dynamiclear formulation includes St. John’s Wort, an herb known as Hypericum perforatum. St. John’s Wort has been used to treat wounds and infections for many years and has been shown to be effective against viral particles.

Clinical studies have found that Hypericum extract was effective in reducing the frequency and severity of recurrent episodes of herpes labialis and herpes genitalis. Hypericum perforatum has potent antiviral and antibacterial properties which are beneficial in the treatment of the herpes virus.

Sulfur is a main ingredient in Dynamiclear. Sulfer is the basis of the modern antibiotic and an age-old remedy used against infections and to help the recovery of wounds. This sulfate molecule is an important component of the Dynamiclear solution.

Dynamiclear penetrates the viral membrane, causing the destruction of the virus on contact. When I used Dynamiclear for the first time I was surprised at the speed and effectiveness. A scab formed almost instantly, the healing begins, and the episode quickly ended.