LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- It's a pesky virus that affects two-thirds of the world population, but now USC researchers are turning the herpes simplex virus into an effective cancer fighter.

One skin cancer patient is getting a second chance thanks to this new treatment.

A few years ago, a bump on the back of Jim Day's neck was the first sign of malignant melanoma. It had spread to his brain.

"Stage 4 melanoma. My brother is a doctor. When I called him and told him what I had, he said, 'You'll be dead in six months, come stay with me,'" he said.

But Day didn't give up. Surgeons removed the brain tumor and he underwent conventional immunotherapy. But after a while, it stopped working.

"We know it only works about half the time," said Dr. Gino Kim In, an oncologist with Keck Medicine of US

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