Challenging popular belief and raising the brow of at least one medical expert, a Nevada drug distributor claims to have developed a product that offers unparalleled protection against the transmission of herpes when used with a condom.

The distributor, PMD, says Amari Cream was developed by one of the nation's leading obstetrician gynecologists and is 97 percent effective in containing the herpes virus when used with a condom.

It's an important endeavor. No treatment can cure herpes. And nationwide, at least 45 million people ages 12 and older, or one out of five adolescents and adults, have genital herpes infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

But Lauren F. Streicher, MD, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, sounded a note of warning."It's true that condoms are not 100 percent effective at preventing the transmission of herpes,'' she said. "Sometimes the condom is put on too late, the condom comes off or there may be herpes lesions in areas not covered by the condom. There is no scientific evidence that application of Amari, or any other cream for that matter, decreases the risk of contracting herpes or other sexually-transmitted infections.

Streicher says condoms, abstinence, and suppression of viral shedding by taking a prescription anti-viral medication are the only proven ways to decrease the chance of contracting herpes.

"Over-the-counter, non-FDA approved products do not need to support their claims with scientific evidence and can say whatever they want to sell a product,'' she says.

Instructions on the Amari site suggest "applying the liquid cream over the entire exposed genital area of both partners (especially over areas of recent shaving or waxing, where nicks and micro abrasions are susceptible to the transmission of herpes), and then use a condom."

The Herpes virus can be contracted from the sores that the viruses cause, but it also can be released between outbreaks from skin that does not appear to have a sore. The virus is generally transmitted through sexual contact with someone who does not have a visible sore and may not have knowledge of the infection.

"To finally have a product available that helps lessen the chances of spreading herpes-especially to this degree is great news,'' Sherry Torkos, a nationally-recognized holistic pharmacist and health author, said in a prepared news release. "And to have it in something as convenient as a barrier cream is truly breakthrough in science.''