>One would think that a fix for this would be freely circulated around.

There are several, most of the major AV vendors have one available. The AV app. I use, EZ AV, is made by Computer Associates, who have called their free Klez removal tool "unklez"
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K101259A1

A more thorough one seems to be this one, from symantec:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?H6DC32BB