Specific Bovine Transfer Factor for the Treatment of Herpes Infections

Transfer factor prevents relapses in herpes keratitis patients: A pilot study

“…Furthermore, encouraging results were reported by Abramson et aI. [I] in treating uveitis patients with transfer factor, whereas in a limited number of RHK patients, we have confirmed that HSV-specific TF reduces the number of relapses and also significantly decreases the HSV-l-caused opacities in rabbits' eyes [5,20]. These observations made the present clinical study so much more plausible.…”

“…HSV-specific TF has been previously used with success for treatment of patients with genital and labial herpes infections [14,20,22,23]. Furthermore, encouraging results were reported by Abramson et aI.…”

“…Bovine transfer factor was produced and its activity assessed as previously described [ 14,20,22,23]. Briefly, calves were injected with HSV-1 and HSV-2 live virus and were sacrificed four weeks later, after skin testing had shown satisfactory reactivity to HSV.…”

“…Indeed, it has been shown that specific transfer factor from bovine or tissue culture origin is active in humans. [17,18,22] In addition, several studies [e.g. 14,20,22,23] have established that oral administration of TF is efficacious thus making the clinical use of this compound easier.…”

“…[4] and our own studies [ 14,20,23] have shown that, during remission, patients suffering from genital or labial herpes display, probably transiently, insufficient cell-mediated immunity (CMI) to HSV as assessed by the leucocyte migration test (LMT) [2,15,25]. The CMI response to HSV in these patients increases 6-8 days after a relapse, with a subsequent decrease over time [14,20]. Similarly, in a preliminary study whose results are reported hereafter, we have observed that patients suffering from relapsing herpes keratitis (RHK) have deficient CMI responses to HSV-I but also to CMV.…”