Treatment of Recurrent Herpes Simplex Labialis with Oral Acyclovir
In a double-blind, randomized, patient-initiated clinical trial, 174 nonimmunocompromised patients with a history of virus-culture-confirmed herpes simplex labialis were treated with acyclovir capsules, 400 mg five times daily for 5 days, or placebo capsules. For 97% of the patients, treatment start...
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Published in | The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 161; no. 2; pp. 185 - 190 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Chicago, IL
The University of Chicago Press
01.02.1990
University of Chicago Press |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | In a double-blind, randomized, patient-initiated clinical trial, 174 nonimmunocompromised patients with a history of virus-culture-confirmed herpes simplex labialis were treated with acyclovir capsules, 400 mg five times daily for 5 days, or placebo capsules. For 97% of the patients, treatment started within 1 h of the first sign or symptom of a recurrence. The frequency of positive lesion virus cultures was significantly lower among acyclovir-treated subjects (29/114,25%) than among placebo-treated subjects (29/60,48%; P = .004). Drug treatment did not affect the development of lesions, measured by the frequency of macular and papular (aborted) lesions and mean maximum lesion size. However, acyclovir hastened lesion resolution among the patients who could start treatment in the prodrome or erythema lesion stage. For this group, the mean duration of pain was reduced by 36% (P = .02)and the mean healing time to loss of crust by 27% (P = .03). Thus, oral acyclovir alleviated some of the clinical manifestations of herpes simplex labialis. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/HXZ-CR7GHJ3C-G istex:CC30DD2322BA1A4B0BA1A8BD868E0E73DA2B8FA4 Reprints and correspondence: Dr. S. L. Spruance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84132. ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-News-3 |
ISSN: | 0022-1899 1537-6613 |
DOI: | 10.1093/infdis/161.2.185 |