You can get Abreva in practically any drug store here (U.S.A).
Walmart has it for about $12-$15 for a tiny tube. The stuff goes a
long way though and I've heard of some good results by people using it
not only orally (which is FDA approved) but genitally as well (which
is not).

M2

Oh, well, sure; I've got to review this stuff; I can't really remember
right now, was it wakame (stuff used for sushi), or feverfew,
competing for the receptors for herpes... never mind, written in a
hurry.

It sounds good; too bad I can't purchase it...at our local Wal-Mart :O)

Perl von Molson

What was I talking about was actually "Prunella vulgary" or "Self Heal"
Below is an article from pubmed. (tons of other sites have the info)

Drinking tea made with this herb will do it.
What's the point in using Abreva then?

Docosanol 10% cream is a topical treatment for recurrent herpes simplex
labialis episodes (episodes of cold sores or fever blisters). A
saturated 22-carbon aliphatic alcohol, Docosanol exhibits antiviral
activity against many lipid enveloped viruses including [herpes simplex
virus] (HSV). Docosanol inhibits fusion between the plasma membrane and
the herpes simplex virus (HSV) envelope, thereby preventing viral entry
into cells and subsequent viral replication. Since the compound does
not act directly on the virus, it is unlikely that it will produce drug
resistant mutants of HSV. All known competitive products, such as
nucleoside analogues, work by inhibition of viral DNA replication and,
as such, carry the risk of mutating the virus.

The active ingredient is n-docosanol, also known as behenyl alcohol, a
saturated 22-carbon aliphatic alcohol which exhibits antiviral activity
against many lipid enveloped viruses including herpes simplex virus
(HSV).

Active Ingredient:
Purpose:

Docosanol 10% ................ Cold sore/fever blister treatment

Inactive Ingredients:   Benzyl alcohol, light mineral oil, propylene
glycol, purified water, sucrose distearate, sucrose stearate.

http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/drugs/dru627.html
What's in "Abreva" btw? Docosanol? What's that?
http://www.abreva.com/abreva/how_abreva_works.asp

Unlike other ointments and creams that just treat some of the symptoms
that come with cold sores, ABREVA actually helps speed the healing
process. It penetrates the skin to help protect healthy cells against
the cold sore infection.
10% Docosanol makes the difference.
ABREVA contains 10% Docosanol, a unique patented active ingredient that
helps protect against the infection. It changes the cell membrane that
surrounds healthy skin cells. This modified cell membrane then acts as
a barrier to the cold sore virus, making it harder for the virus to get
into the cell.

Perl von Molson

Isolation and characterization of an anti-HSV polysaccharide from
Prunella vulgaris.

Xu HX, Lee SH, Lee SF, White RL, Blay J.

Department of Applied Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie
University, Halifax, NS, Canada.

A water soluble substance was isolated from a Chinese herb, Prunella
vulgaris, by hot water extraction, ethanol precipitation and gel
permeation column chromatography. Chemical tests showed that the
substance was an anionic polysaccharide. Using a plaque reduction
assay, the polysaccharide at 100 microg/ml was active against the
herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), but was inactive
against cytomegalovirus, the human influenza virus types A and B, the
poliovirus type 1 or the vesicular stomatitis virus. The 50% plaque
reduction dose of the polysaccharide for HSV-1 and HSV-2 was 10
microg/ml. Clinical isolates and known acyclovir-resistant
(TK-deficient or polymerase-defective) strains of HSV-1 and HSV-2 were
similarly inhibited by the polysaccharide. Pre-incubation of HSV-1 with
the polysaccharide at 4, 25 or 37 degrees C completely abrogated the
infectivity of HSV-1, but pre-treatment of Vero cells with the
polysaccharide did not protect cells from infection by the virus. The
addition of the polysaccharide at 0, 2, 5.5 and 8 h post-infection of
Vero cells with HSV-1 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of five
reduced the 20 h-yield of intracellular infectious virus by 100, 99, 99
and 94%, respectively. In contrast, a similar addition of heparin
showed 85, 63, 53 and 3% reduction of intracellular virus yield,
respectively. These results suggest that the polysaccharide may inhibit
HSV by competing for cell receptors as well as by some unknown
mechanisms after the virus has penetrated the cells. The Prunella
polysaccharide was not cytotoxic to mammalian cells up to the highest
concentration tested, 0.5 mg/ml and did not show any anti-coagulant
activity. In conclusion, the polysaccharide isolated from P. vulgaris
has specific activity against HSV and its mode of action appears to be
different from other anionic carbohydrates, such as heparin.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1
0588332&dopt=Abstract