Another possibility to eradicate the HSV-1 variant is being pursued by a team at Duke University. By figuring out how to switch all copies of the virus in the host from latency to their active stage at the same time, rather than the way the virus copies normally stagger their activity stage, leaving some dormant somewhere at all times, it is thought that immune system could kill the entire infected cell population, since they can no longer hide in the nerve cells. This is a potentially risky approach especially for patients with widespread infections as there is the possibility of significant tissue damage from the immune response.