Boost Your Immune System To Reduce Symptoms Of Cold Sores

If you have a cold sore, you will never recover completely. This means the herpes simplex virus type 1 will always remain in your body.

A study explains why. Cold sore victims have defective genes. This weakens the immune system which poses a vulnerability against the virus. Yet, you can beef up your immune system so it can deal with the virus more effectively.

We all know that HVS1 actually is responsible for cold sores. In the U.S. alone, about 60 percent of adults are infected with this virus. This is an evidence of how contagious is the virus.

Recently, the Scottish scientists have learned that cold sore sufferers have a mutation in a gene that contributes to a strong immune system against the herpes virus. They studied thousands of genes to pinpoint the right protein that is used by the immune system to fight the virus.

This means that certain genes can keep the HSV1 at bay. So if the genes are mutated, the immune system will be more susceptible to the HSV1. And this will lead to the cold sore outbreaks.

Professor Juergen Haas, of the University of Edinburgh’s Division of Pathway Medicine commented that "most people carry the cold sore strain of the herpes simplex virus, but until now we never knew why only some of them develop cold sores. Knowing that susceptibility to the virus involved relates to people’s genes reinforces the need to research, not only the evolution of viruses themselves, but also the susceptibility of hosts to infection".

If you have recurrent cold sores, you should take lysine supplements. They can boost your immune system, reducing the chances of outbreak.