Washington Post, April 13, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- Experts say a lack of funds is slowing attempts to find a truly effective vaccine against genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease that can be devastating for the one in five Americans over 12 who carry the virus. Genital infection with the herpes simplex viruses (HSV) 1 or 2 is not just an inconvenience, doctors note. It is a painful, recurrent illness that causes psychological distress, raises health risks for newborns, and boosts the carrier's odds for a much more deadly virus, HIV. These nerve cells are "a protected site, immunologically," explained Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, director of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "Needless to say, we don't like to have our immune system attacking our nerves," he said, so vaccines with that kind of reach are hard to develop.