Question:
I guess you could say I had my first outbreak a couple months ago. It started out as what looked like two ingrown hairs above my penis a couple of days after I rubbed up against a girl I had been seeing. They were kind of bothering me so I plucked them out. For some reason that set of some sort of chain reaction because that area got really red and looked and felt like a bad sunburn that continued to spread across my upper pubic region over the course of a few days. I would say that it started at the first of the week and was gone by the end of the week. I suspected that it was HSV, but I decided to wait a few more weeks before I get tested so that my body has time to crank out some antibodies that can be viewed.
So a few more weeks go by and I start to itch in the area and on my legs down to my knees. This has been going on for a few now, and I believe that the only sores on my body are the ones caused by me scratching. It actually looks like a patchy rash the can also be found on my stomach and the sides of my upper torso. I've also noticed that on the head of my penis there or several small red circles that don't bother me at all. The also appear to be completely flush with the skin. In fact I can not even fill that they are there. I can just only see them.
Right now I'm just looking for some other possible diagnosis from the forum so I can prep myself so when I go to see the doctor.... my luck I get the one that swears it one thing when it’s really the other one, lol.


Also, just as a side note ... my current job is in cancer research and detection, so if anyone has some technical questions that they would like to have explained in laymen terms, I would be more than happy to give you my best shot.


Answer:
theres alot of symptoms, that go with herpes, which pretty much are anything and everything you can think of.

it might be herpes from the rash that spread, and the itchy feeling.
it might not be so much genital, but maybe shingles since its more on your stomach/torso.

the red dots on your penis- there are endless diffrent "dots" from herpes. some are clear fluid filled, some are just red dots, some are cuts, some are the general "sore" etc etc etc...

i would suggest if u still have the rash/dots, go to the doc asap for a culture, then go back again in a few weeks for a blood test to be sure.

Answer:
Yeah I wouldn't wait on it. I've read horror stories about bug bites and infections that followed.

Of course it could be hsv and being in the research field I am sure you know that there are dozens of crazy diseases out there and that many aren't something you want to ignor.

And yes if it is hsv it takes a while for the antibodies to develop but in the mean time if you have an active ob they can culture it and you would have results within about 10 days and could begin on antivirals.

Answer:
Well, my test came back negative. It appears that I just have scabies.... which is really apparent now, lol. I actually found out about a week ago, and just thought I let you all know the outcome. Right now I'm just waiting for the extremely itchy rash to go away. The doc said it could be another week, and if it hasn't cleared up I'll get to do the cream all over my body thing again.

After this experience I have learned one thing, and that is that I really do fell badly for you all who have to suffer through this life long virus. Also, after reading some of your posts, I have found that most people in here are after a cure which I do hope one can be found ... but I'm afraid that might not be so easy. My area is rooted strongly in cancer research, but I did do a lot of course work in Virology and Immunobiology so I will try to break it down as to why a cure might be farther off then we hope for ... sorry if this is too much of a downer.
From what I can recall, once the virus has integrated its DNA into your DNA, it manufactures a little subunit called ICP47 (those immuno guys/gals like to give everything a designation like that, took me forever to get C1q, C1r etc. straight :mad: ) Back to ICP47, it blocks an area in your endoplasmic Reticulum that releases your MHC I complexes. The purposes of the MHC are to mount and present various proteins that enter the cells to be checked by your immune system. This is how most cells are targeted and destroyed. Also, HSV is not the only virus to do this. But these viruses are not as clever as HSV because they only block the MHC from being able to present itself to the immune system which sends up a red flag to the immune system because it just sees a naked cells without any MHC's on it that it will destroyed completely. HSV is smart in this way because it presents a "good enough" MHC look-alike that fools the immune system.
So here lies the biggest challenge in finding a cure because the cell is very well camouflaged from you immune system. I would suggest making an anti-body that is specific for that fake MHC and attach a radioactive isotope onto it that will destroy only that cell.... similar concepts are being looked at in the fight against cancer. Unfortunately, I'm not sure just how closely it mimics your own MHC's so my idea may be invalid. After all, you wouldn't want these antibodies attacking every cell that has a MHC complex on it.
Now for some good news, I can see within my lifetime a vaccine being developed. Epically with the leaps and bounds they have made with HIV. After all, they are somewhat similar in the way that they operate once they are inside a cell.

If anything, I hope this is somewhat informational and not to dry or hard to understand, and I whish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors. :D

Answer:
First off I'm glad you found out what was causing your rash. Honestly I didn't think people got scabies anymore. I don't like to suggest it because it has it's own creepiness. btw if you're thinking of seeing "Bug" it would creep you out even more. Not the slasher film most people are after but a good study in psychology.

My question is do you know anything about the immune system in relation to the b and t cells. I was curious if building bone mass does anything to increase bone marrow and thus contribute to building the immune system?

Any reference or research on this would be of interest to me.

Answer:
Thanks for the relpy, however, I'll get another test in a month just to be sure.

Now for your question, your immune syster is composed of two parts: innate and adaptive. the innate part (macrophages etc.) keeps you alive till your adaptive system starts to kick in which is composed of your B and T cells (B=bone, T=throid). Now both of these cells are dirived from your bone marrow, however, your T-cell takes a trip to you throid where it undergoes postitive/negative selection .... I've gotton off track here, back to your question .... having suffecent bone mass/marrow does play in role in your immune system since these cells do originate from the marror to a certain extent. For the most part you really have a finate amount of CD8/CD4 T-cells and B-cells in your body unless they are doing battle. Which is why the flu virus can be deadly to the elderly because their bones are somewhat degraded.
I looked into a few drug research companies, but didn't find to much info, but this could because their research is only in Phase I which is usually kept internal. i've also sent some emails off to a couple of contacts that I have .. just waiting for a response. I'll let you know if I find out anything.

Answer:
thanks I tried to research this but I am not in the medical field and don't know how to find the answer to my question.

My goal is to build my immune system. Is it possible to build bone marrow? I understand that by exercise and building muscle I can increase bone density but what does this do for the marrow where the immune system gets much of its power? In the elderly the bone mass is reduced the marrow is reduced often the bones fill up with fat and become brittle externally. I want to reverse this or halt it and build instead.

What other things build the immune system. I understand that the different macrophages etc have jobs in creating, delivering, tagging etc so that the different cells can eliminate pathogens but if I want to empower the entire system what do I do?

I understand the basics, diet, exercise, sleep, nutrition but MAXIMIZE? How do I super charge my immune system? Can this be assisted?