Herpes STDs: From chimps to humans to cold sore cousin mixing before worldwide spread

(Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)) Evolutionarily, Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 are considered cousins, and are thought to have evolved independently, Now, an entirely new picture is emerging. While scientists did not find evidence of chimpanzee herpes virus fragments in HSV-2 genomes, they show the history of HSV-2 was marked by recombination with HSV-1. In addition, they determined two main lineages of HSV-2, one globally distributed and another restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, which both started diversifying about 30,000 years ago.
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news