Effect of oral acyclovir treatment on symptomatic and asymptomatic virus shedding in recurrent genital herpes
Article Abstract:
The cases of 26 men and women with recurring genital herpes, who kept diaries of their signs and symptoms and submitted self-collected samples from the genitals during a one-year period of treatment with the antibiotic acyclovir, were studied to determine the effects of acyclovir. During acyclovir treatment, the patients had fewer symptoms, less tissue damage and shed less of the virus in their genital fluids. Before treatment, they shed the virus in 95 out of every 1,000 samples of genital fluids taken when genital symptoms were present (herpes symptoms are intermittent); after treatment, this rate decreased to six per 1,000. The rate of virus shedding when free of symptoms was not affected by antibiotic treatment and remained at eight per 1,000. The vulnerability to herpes virus samples to acyclovir did not depend on whether the samples were collected during treatment or whether symptoms were present. Viruses shed when symptoms were absent were genetically similar to those shed when symptoms were present. Thus acyclovir treatment substantially reduced the symptoms and signs of genital herpes infection, but did not reduce virus shedding and thus the likelihood of disease transmission.
Publication Name: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0148-5717
Year: 1989
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Oral acyclovir to suppress frequently recurrent herpes labialis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Article Abstract:
Oral acyclovir may be an effective and safe treatment for immunocompetent patients suffering from recurrent herpes simplex labialis. Recurrent herpes simplex labialis are recurring cold sores that usually occur on the lips. Twenty patients suffering from recurrent herpes simplex labialis were treated with 400 milligrams of oral acyclovir two times a day for four months and then with a placebo, or an inactive substance, for four months. They suffered a recurrence of herpes simplex labialis within an average of 118 days during treatment with oral acyclovir, compared with an average of 46 days during treatment with a placebo. The average number of recurrences was less than half as many during treatment with acyclovir than during treatment with a placebo. Acyclovir is a drug with antiviral activity.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1993
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Valaciclovir versus acyclovir in the treatment of first-episode genital herpes infection: results of an international, multicenter, double-blind, randomized clinical trial
Article Abstract:
Valaciclovir appears to be an equally effective but more convenient alternative to acyclovir in treating patients with their first herpes infection. Valaciclovir is taken twice daily while acyclovir is taken five times daily. Six hundred forty-three adults with first-time herpes infections took either valaciclovir or acyclovir for 10 days. Patients taking either medication tested positive for the virus for equal lengths of time, healed equally quickly, and experienced pain for similar time periods. There were no serious side effects reported with either medication.
Publication Name: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0148-5717
Year: 1997
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