Oral Antivirals for the Acute Treatment of Recurrent Herpes Labialis

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use and benefit of oral antivirals in the acute treatment of episodic, recurrent herpes labialis. DATA SOURCES A literature search was performed in MEDLINE (1966—August 2003) using acyclovir, famciclovir, valacyclovir, cold sores, herpes labialis, and HSV-1 as search terms....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Annals of pharmacotherapy 2004-04, Vol.38 (4), p.705-709
Main Authors: Jensen, Lori A, Hoehns, James D, Squires, Cindy L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
2-Aminopurine - analogs & derivatives
2-Aminopurine - economics
2-Aminopurine - therapeutic use
Acyclovir - analogs & derivatives
Acyclovir - economics
Acyclovir - therapeutic use
Administration, Oral
Antiviral Agents - economics
Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use
Clinical Trials as Topic
Herpes Labialis - drug therapy
Humans
Recurrence
Valine - analogs & derivatives
Valine - economics
Valine - therapeutic use
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Summary:OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use and benefit of oral antivirals in the acute treatment of episodic, recurrent herpes labialis. DATA SOURCES A literature search was performed in MEDLINE (1966—August 2003) using acyclovir, famciclovir, valacyclovir, cold sores, herpes labialis, and HSV-1 as search terms. DATA SYNTHESIS We reviewed 5 placebo-controlled and 2 comparative studies evaluating oral antivirals for acute treatment of recurrent herpes labialis. No studies directly compared different antivirals. Studies discussing the efficacy of antivirals for chronic suppression of herpes simplex virus-1 infection were not included. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with oral antivirals decreases the duration of lesion episodes and pain by approximately one day; however, the antivirals do not abort lesions from developing. Clinical implications of these results appear relatively modest.
ISSN:1060-0280
1542-6270
DOI:10.1345/aph.1D285