Free Republic

"Yea, Tho I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Will Fear No Evil... For Thou Art With Me."Psalm 23:4 "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare of the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him." (Psalm 91:1-2)

At present, while there is no cause known for this condition, patients with MS seem to have genetic vulnerability to certain environmental factors that could trigger this condition, such as the Epstein-Barr virus. Scientists at the University of Granada have found a relation between the Epstein-Barr virus –which belongs to the herpesviruses family–and the development of this conditionThe Epstein-Barr (EVB) virus –belonging to the herpesviruses family, which also includes the herpes simplex virus and the cytomegalovirus– is one of the environmental factors that might cause multiple sclerosis, a condition affecting the central nervous system, which causes are unknown. This has...

Unnamed A-list male star with herpes sued for $20m after 'knowingly infecting sex partner with virus' By Daily Mail Reporter A male A-list celebrity knowingly exposed his sexual partner to the herpes virus, according to a new lawsuit. The star - who is worth in excess of $100m - is not named, but is described as having 'substantial fame internationally'. The court documents describe how the victim - who is not named or identified as a man or a woman - met the celebrity in Las Vegas on April 1 and has now contracted herpes.

Bail was denied today for a woman accused of fatally shooting a man because she thought he had given her a sexually transmitted disease. A lawyer for Ashley Nicole Steele, 21, argued that she grew up a ward of the state, has a 10th grade education and suffers from bipolar disorder.

'Cold sores' connected to cognitive declineALBUQUERQUE, NM – Laboratories at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Brown University, and House Ear Institute (HEI) have developed a new technique to observe herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) infections growing inside cells. HSV1, the cause of the common cold sore, persists in a latent form inside nerve cells. Re-activation and growth of HSV1 infections contribute to cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Details are published in the March 31 issue of PLoS ONE magazine from the Public Library of Science. "Herpes infects mucous membranes, such as the lip or eye, and generates...

Can the Playboy Mansion make you ill? Hugh Hefner's iconic bachelor pad is under investigation after more than 80 guests at a conference and party there became sick with a suspected strain of Legionnaires' disease. Scores of attendees at the Domainfest conference in Santa Monica, held Feb. 1 to 3, came down with symptoms including fever, respiratory infections and violent headaches. Four Swedish guests were diagnosed with Legionellosis or pontiac fever -- a milder form of Legionnaires' caused by bacteria that thrives in warm air-conditioning systems.

New compounds to fight the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), which causes cold sores, have been made by researchers from Italy. The compounds' antiviral activity could be enhanced further by encapsulating them in a cyclodextrin nanocarrier that acts as a delivery system. Giovanni Grassi and colleagues from the University of Messina made indole-3,4-diones that share structural features with inhibitors of kinase - an enzyme linked to many diseases. The inhibitors were recently reported to prevent viral replication in vitro. 'The diones showed remarkable anti HSV-1 activity in vitro,' says Grassi. They then encapsulated the most effective dione in an amphiphilic - both hydrophilic and lipophilic - cyclodextrin....

(CNN) – Sen. John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, wants to make one thing clear, "I am not the one running for Senate." McCain’s comments about Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell as a "nut job" while appearing on ABC's "This Week" program Sunday, immediately received harsh criticism and backlash. A response that day from the O'Donnell campaign mocked McCain for having "vast experience in politics and running for office." McCain is now firing back. The 25 year-old, whose departure from conservative orthodoxy on some issues is no secret and has put her at odds with some in the GOP base,...

SANTA ANA – Former President Bill Clinton told a cheering, whistling crowd of Democratic faithful Friday not to let disappointment in the dragging pace of economic recovery cloud their votes in next month's pivotal elections. Clinton was in Santa Ana to rally voters for Rep. Loretta Sanchez, one of dozens of Democrats nationwide whose seats are considered in play in part because of widespread apathy among party voters. Sanchez finds herself locked in a tight race with Republican Assemblyman Van Tran, even though registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans in her central Orange County district. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, left, and President...

LONDON – A rare and dangerous reaction to a range of common medicines including antibiotics and anticonvulsants may be caused by a severe immune response to reactivated herpes virus, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers said their findings suggest that if doctors were to test for the herpes virus in patients suffering the drug reaction, they might be able to find ways to treat it and possibly stop it becoming more severe, or even fatal. The results should also help scientists find out what makes some people susceptible to the reaction, which is known as Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic...

WASHINGTON--Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney--eyeing a 2012 presidential race--headlines a lunch fund-raiser in Chicago today for GOP Senate candidate Mark Kirk--and I'm told Romney is coming to talk about jobs and Kirk.

Doctors say they have used a genetically engineered herpes virus to treat successfully patients with head and neck cancer. A London hospital trial of 17 patients found that use of the virus alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy helped kill the tumours in most patients. It works by getting into cancer cells, killing them from the inside, and also boosting the patient's immune system. Further trials are planned for later in the year. Head and neck cancer, which includes cancer of the mouth, tongue and throat, affects up to 8,000 people every year in the UK.

Today, Reuters has released an article on the mind blowing stats of the number of individuals that are infected with and possess the incurable disease of herpes in the United States. "WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - About 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday. Black women had the highest rate of infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice likely as men to be infected, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for...

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - About 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday. Black women had the highest rate of infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice likely as men to be infected, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 21 percent of women were infected with genital herpes, compared to only 11.5 percent of men, while 39 percent of blacks were infected compared to about...

The golf great's credibility, already eroded by marital infidelity, could evaporate entirely if there's fire to go along with the smoke generated by his reported link to a doctor who promotes HGH.

We thought the worst for Tiger was behind him, or, at the very least, that no closet was big enough to hold any more skeletons. Looks like we were wrong—remember, Tiger owns more than a few houses, and more than a few closets. Behind door number—which one are we on now?—is the revelation that the doctor who treated Woods after his knee injury has been indicted in a doping scandal by the FBI, and is accused of treating athletes with steroids.

The Saint Louis Zoo's two-and-a-half-year-old Asian elephant named Jade is undergoing treatment for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), according to Curator of Mammals Martha Fischer. Jade was successfully treated for EEHV in February of this year and since then her blood tests had been negative. The virus is potentially fatal to elephants. "Jade is holding her own," according to Fischer. "We have continued to monitor our young elephants very closely every day for symptoms of EEHV and check their blood levels regularly." A cooperative multi-institutional research effort to study EEHV and find a cure has been underway for the last several...

SEXY socialite and Tiger Woods mistress Rachel Uchitel plans to be screened for sexually transmitted diseases, it was claimed last night. Curvy Rachel told pals she would undergo tests after a string of girls — including TWO porn stars — said they had also slept with the superstar golfer.

Enlarge ImageBusybody. A new study suggests HSV-2, seen here as orange particles, is constantly active even when patients don't have symptoms. Credit: Dennis Kunkel Microscopy Inc./Visuals Unlimited, Inc. Genital herpes comes and goes--at least that's what it looks like to patients. But a mathematical model published in the 18 November issue of Science Translational Medicine suggests that herpes never slumbers. Instead, nerve cells continuously pump out the virus in minuscule quantities over a sufferer's lifetime. If the findings hold, it may be much harder to stop patients from passing on the infection than researchers thought. As many as one...

A blogger at the Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh stood up and interrupted Bill Clinton's speech Thursday night. He asked Clinton "Mr. President, will you call for a repeal of DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Right now?" Clinton told Hudson that he "ought" to go to one of the health care town halls. "You'd do really well there," he added.