United States Patent 5,133,352

Lathrop , et al. July 28, 1992

Method for Treating Herpes Simplex



Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for treating infectious skin conditions, such as Herpes Simplex 1 and 2. By the application of an electrical field and current to the area of the manifestation of the disease on the body there is activated a reaction at the cell level to combat the virus and disrupt its attack on the healthy cell structure. The present method comprises a direct application of a low voltage direct current, low amperage stimulation to the skin about the infected location for a few seconds every hour for a length of time sufficient to prevent formation and/or heal the resultant lesion.

Examples and Methods of Treatment
86 men and women between the ages of 19 and 37 participated in the study over a period of 3 months.
Subjects were placed in one of 3 groups as follows:
Group One: 23 control subjects. These received no electrical stimulation and reported onset, progress, and resolve of their lesions on a daily basis.
Group Two: 42 subjects. These were seen in a medical clinic with their electrical treatment supervised by a medical doctor. These patients took no drugs and were treated in the clinic commencing with the onset of each lesion and 4 times a week until the lesion resolved.
Group Three: 21 subjects. These were each issued a small electrical stimulation device (the same as the Herpes Zapper) and were told to always keep them handy. They were also told to be acutely aware of the onset of the next occurrence of itching, tingling, pain, or ache in the area. Once they noticed oncoming symptoms they were told to "use the electrical stimulator to make contact with the potential lesion site for 15 seconds. Continue this procedure once per hour for 8 hours without interruption on the first day of recognition of preliminary symptoms." They were also told to continue this procedure until the lesion resolved itself.
All of the subjects in this study suffered from either Herpes Simplex 1 (mouth herpes) or 2 (genital herpes). Prior onset of the disease ranged from 1.5 to 5 years.
  
RESULTS
                    Comparison of Treatment Procedures

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                Herpes Simplex 1         Herpes Simplex 2

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              # of       avg. days    # of      avg. days

              patients   of lesions   patients  of lesions

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Group 1 controls

Men             7          9            6          10
Women           4          7            6           8 
(total patients=23. Average lesion duration per patient=8.5 days)

Group 2 clinically treated

Men            13          3            4          12

Women          15          4           10           3 

(total patients=42. Average lesion duration per patient=5.5 days)
Group 3 self treated

Men             5          0            4           0
Women           4          0            8           1  
(total patients=21. Average lesion duration per patient=.25 day)

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As can be seen the most successful group were those who treated themselves prior to lesion onset, group #3. The average duration of lesion existence for this group was only 1/4 day. It was also discovered that the sooner treatment starts after symptoms, the better the results. To prevent lesion formation it's necessary to start treatment within the first 12 hours after onset of symptoms.
Group 2 averaged 5 1/2 days lesion duration, and Group 1 averaged 8 1/2 days.
The data presented demonstrates that low voltage electrical current, when applied to the lesion site, can significantly reduce the time of persistence of that herpes lesion.
The data also shows more dramatically that self treatment with low voltage electrical current within the first 15 minutes of the occurrence of a symptom can prevent the occurrence of a lesion at that site of stimulation.

Click here to see the full patent #5133352 which I discovered from the book "A Case for Electro-Therapy".

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