Page 10-Thursday, June 3, 1982-The Michigan Daily
New drug may
relieve pam
of herpes virus


BOSTON (UPI) - Doctors have
found a promising new drug which may
relieve pain and itching of sores afflic-
ting first-time genital herpes sufferers
and shorten the period of infection.
But women with recurrent episodes
of the disabling disease received little
or no relief from the drug acyclovir, a
study reported yesterday in The New
England Journal of Medicine. Second-
time male sufferers received relief.
PATIENTS - male and female -
with first episodes of genital herpes
who applied acyclovir in cream form
got relief and were healed three days
before those using a placebo cream.
"This is exciting to finda topical drug
to be so effective," said Dr. Lawrence
Corey of the Virology Laboratory at
Seattle's Children's Orthopedic
Hospital Medical Center. He headed
the six-doctor team conducting the
study.
He said the possibilities for using the
drug intravenously or orally were par-

ticularly encouraging because genital
herpes lesions often are in the cervix
and urethra, areas which can't be
treated with a topical ointment.
"IT'S REAL promising because pills
and injections are always more effec-
tive than topical application," he said.
Herpes Simpley Virus II, genital her-
pes, affects an estimated 20 million
Americans, or 21 percent of those bet-
ween 15 and 44 who are sexually active.
Between, 500,000 and 600,000 new cases
are reported annually.
There is no cure.
Although the drug has no known side
effects, an accompanying editorial
cautioned drug resistance could be a
problem.
Because no relief was noted in second
time sufferers, the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration has yet to license the drug
for treatment of patients with recurring
symptoms. The drug only has been an
the marketsa month.

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AP Photo
Bridge collapses
Workers examine the remains of a bridge that shattered recently over a
waterway in Khorramshar, Iran.

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We want to cure cancer in your lifetime.

Ironworkers
Strike stalls
'U' hospital
construction
(continued from Page1)
struction projects in the Detroit area,
Bremer said there was no picketing at
the Ann Arbor site.
FRANK KRUSE, a spokesman for
General Contractors, said he did not
think the strike would last for an exten-
ded period of time. "I really don't think
it will last very long," he said yester-
day.


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Richard Brunvand, executive direc-
tor of the Washtenaw Contractors
Association, said he thought. work on
the site had been delayed a week
already, and that if a settlement was
not reached by early next week it could
be delayed another week.
Kruse said that the strike affects five
other construction projects in the
state-a General Motors plant, a
Volkswagen plant, and three Detroit
Edison projects.
Ray Poupore, a spokesman for
Operating Engineers Local 324, said he
was uncertain when both sides would sit
down with federal mediators to con-
tinue negotiations.
Scheduled for completion in 1985, the
Replacement Hospital project curren-
tly is the largest construction project in
the state. Despite recent concerns over
funding of the project, officials say con-
struction has progressed smoothly
from groundbreaking last October until
the strike Monday.

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