Why is herpes incurable? Herpes and chickenpox are especially adept at hiding from the immune system within the host. Both viruses can hide in nerve cells (where it is much harder for the immune system to find and destroy them) or in other places where the immune system cannot track them down. That’s not unusual for viruses, since the other example we mentioned (chickenpox) hides very well in the nerves (and HIV, for example, can hide inside red blood cells). Plus herpes is a retrovirus (RNA-containing viruses). That is, when trying to get rid of herpes, it must somehow be isolated from the DNA of the carrier, which is not possible.