6 post-hoc analysis showed shedding rates 4-to5-fold higher among those initially HSV-2 seronegative subjects compared to the broader group of subjects who were newly diagnosed but already HSV-2 seropositive. Given the limited number of patients in the HSV-2 seronegative subset, the viral shedding results in this cohort must be interpreted with caution, yet the observation suggests the potential importance of early treatment in persons with new HSV-2 infection. The CDC advocates the use of suppressive therapy for reducing genital herpes recurrences in patients with frequent recurrences (≥6 recurrences/year), and states treatment also is eﬀective in patients with less frequent recurrences (5). In addition, sexual transmission of HSV can occur during asymptomatic periods, and asymptomatic viral shedding is most frequent during the ﬁrst 12 months after acquiring HSV-2 (5). Two recent studies have shown that suppressive therapy with valacyclovir in subjects with newly diagnosed HSV-2 genital herpes has clinical eﬃcacy in reducing outbreaks, similar to that seen in persons with established recurrent disease [18, 19]. The current study extends those ﬁndings by showing that the impact of suppressive vala- cyclovir on viral shedding is also similar to that found in persons with established recurrent genital herpes. Taken together, these studies suggest that there is no reason to wait until a person with newly diagnosed genital herpes establishes a recurrence pattern to consider suppressive therapy. In fact, because of the high rate of viral shedding and high probability of clinical recurrences, persons newly diagnosed with HSV-2 infection may be among the best candidates for suppressive therapy. Acknowledgments The VLX105832 study group consisted of Keith Aqua (Visions Clinical Research, Boynton Beach, Fla, USA), Jeanne Ballard (Northern Indiana Women’s Health Research, Inc., South Bend, Ind, USA), Raymond Brown (Temple Univer- sity, Philadelphia, Pa, USA), Belvia Carter (Women’s Physi- cian Group, Memphis, Tenn, USA), Peter Dietz (Women’s Health Care at Frost St., San Diego, Calif, USA), Kenneth Fife (Bell Flower Clinic, Indianapolis, Ind, USA), Richard Hedrick Jr. (Hawthorne OB/GYN Associates, Winston- Salem, NC, USA), Helen Henry and Terri Warren (Westover Heights Clinic, Portland, Ore, USA), Peter Leone (University of North Carolina Clinical Research, Raleigh, NC, USA), Mark Martens (University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, OK), Jan Millermaier (ProMed Physicians, Family Practice Division, Portage, Mich, USA), Gnyandev Patel (NuLife Clinical Research, Inc., Anaheim, Calif, USA), Rhoda Sperling (Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA), as well as Douglas Young (Northern California Research Corp., Carmichael, Calif, USA). 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