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Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

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Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Annoyed at how the guidance has changed on this over the years. At first it was just a narrow slice of 20 something women. Then girl teenagers. Then men and women under 30. Then under 40. If it has an association with preventing cancers, not sure why they were so reluctant to immediately open up the patient pool.

I am not sure why all the replies are indicating you are anti-science or anti-vax. It is annoying to be told something from your doctor, internalize it, have your doctor suggest flu and covid vaccine for years but never HPV, and then be told on HackerNews "you should have the HPV" and now I am supposed to tell my doctor I can do his job better than him because I read something on the internet even though most doctors…

You should also get vaccinated for shingles if you can. If you are under 50, you will have to twist an arm. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/03/shingles-vacc...

Shingles is also incredibly painful.

I find about 1/3 of doctors are dipshits and utterly shocked that someone would read a scientific paper, or learn about their own conditions or diseases. Half of the doctors are overjoyed when they come across a patient like me.

Shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia | 90 Seconds w/ Lisa Kim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unnePZUqi1o

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#52
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure why all the replies are indicating you are anti-science or anti-vax. It is annoying to be told something from your doctor, internalize it, have your doctor suggest flu and covid vaccine for years but never HPV, and then be told on HackerNews "you should have the HPV" and now I am supposed to tell my doctor I can do his job better than him because I read something on the internet even though most doctors…

Becoming a doctor in America requires studying 1 semester of statistics which can have been satisfied by a passing score on an AP statistics exam in high school, years before entering practices. The only thing you know about an MD is they got a C or better in biology and organic chemistry at some point, then tolerated years of abuse to get admitted to the guild. There is really no reason at all to believe that a typi…

[deleted]

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#53

[flagged]

> Nobody is able to prove them being pathogens

What on earth are you talking about? We have clear evidence that suppressing specific viruses causes the symptoms of associated diseases to subside. Humanity has wiped out smallpox, a virus-causing disease, through vaccination against the disease. The same has almost occurred with Polio.

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#54
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how science works. Our understanding of a medication's efficacy evolves over time.

No it's not, it's not science working. It is either A) underreporting risks or B) not acknowledging risk unknowns and plowing ahead with advice anyway. This was the major problem and behavior that CAUSED anti-vax opinions. They made safety claims that they couldn't logically make, because they couldn't know. A new vaccine using a new vaccine technology vs a new virus. They did not correctly report the amount of uncer…

You're missing important stuff here, most notably that recommendations are also based on availability. As the vaccine became more available, more demographics were recommended to take it. Obviously, in the beginning, you want the highest risk groups to take it, then you grow the radius.

They didn't use young girls as some safety experiment. They just had the largest benefit and so, in scarcity, they're prioritized. It's not that scarce anymore.

As an aside, the HPV vaccine also prevents some male cancers, like penile cancer. It also prevents cosmetic, but relatively safe, conditions - like genital and anal warts. That's not the goal of the vaccine so it's not really taken into account. But you, someone who may take the vaccine, should consider it anyway.

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#55
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Annoyed at how the guidance has changed on this over the years. At first it was just a narrow slice of 20 something women. Then girl teenagers. Then men and women under 30. Then under 40. If it has an association with preventing cancers, not sure why they were so reluctant to immediately open up the patient pool.

US citizens used to value the adults managing such science oriented endeavors actually doing their homework before making broad proclamations of efficacy. Lately, not so much.

Blame the cold war for that one.

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#56
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this advice is good, the article is discussing HSV (herpes simplex virus), not HPV (human papilloma virus), which have quite different symptoms and epidemiology. There are, as yet, no approved HSV vaccines.

Second part of the PSA, one should keep prophylactic antiviral medication on hand incase you get exposed to someone with HSV. With 60% of the population positive for HSV, everyone should have an antiviral on hand. acyclovir, famciclovir and valaciclovir https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525787/

[deleted]

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#57
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this advice is good, the article is discussing HSV (herpes simplex virus), not HPV (human papilloma virus), which have quite different symptoms and epidemiology. There are, as yet, no approved HSV vaccines.

Second part of the PSA, one should keep prophylactic antiviral medication on hand incase you get exposed to someone with HSV. With 60% of the population positive for HSV, everyone should have an antiviral on hand. acyclovir, famciclovir and valaciclovir https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525787/

And where/how does one acquire them from?

Re: Antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission

#59
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second part of the PSA, one should keep prophylactic antiviral medication on hand incase you get exposed to someone with HSV. With 60% of the population positive for HSV, everyone should have an antiviral on hand. acyclovir, famciclovir and valaciclovir https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525787/

And where/how does one acquire them from?

They’re available OTC basically everywhere.
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