Chris Kresser: The answer is yes, certainly yeast overgrowth and any other kind of pathogen overgrowth or infection will weaken the immune system, and since viral infections are, in most cases, not curable in the sense that you will never get rid of the herpes virus or the Epstein-Barr virus entirely, the name of the game is to strengthen the immune defense against it so that we can keep it in check and keep it from reactivating and having an impact on our health. So anything that you do that strengthens immune function overall—which would include treating fungal overgrowth—is going to be helpful for dealing with latent reactivated viral infections like herpes simplex or Epstein-Barr or cytomegalovirus or HHV-6 or any of the reactivated viruses.
I like the Byron White Formulas for viral issues. Byron White A-EB/H6 is a really good formula for HSV and Epstein-Barr virus. It’s very potent, so you’d want to start the patient off at a really low dose, maybe three drops twice a day, and you can build up to as many as 30 drops twice a day over an extended period of time.
Lauricidin is antiviral. I’ve written a couple of articles about prevention and treatment of viral infections, so maybe we can link to those because I have some recommendations for other botanicals that are helpful in two categories: (1) supporting immune function, and (2) actual antiviral effects.
Stephen Buhner, who I believe I’ve mentioned before, is one of my favorite herbalists, and he has a book on antiviral botanicals that I highly recommend if you’re treating viral infections. I’ve found that a combined approach with the antiviral botanicals, the immune-supporting botanicals, and supportive nutrients like vitamin C and glutathione and apolactoferrin can be as effective or even more effective than drug therapy like acyclovir.