home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!gumby!yale!yale.edu!not-for-mail
- From: zador-anthony@cs.yale.edu (Tony Zador)
- Newsgroups: sci.med
- Subject: Re: Oral vs. Genetial Herpes
- Date: 17 Nov 1992 23:02:07 -0500
- Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
- Lines: 32
- Distribution: na
- Message-ID: <1ecf7vINNnkr@SUNNY.SYSTEMSX.CS.YALE.EDU>
- References: <BxMAKH.Ct1@willamette.edu> <69500@cup.portal.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: systemsx-gw.cs.yale.edu
-
- In article <69500@cup.portal.com> amigan@cup.portal.com (R Michael Medwid) writes:
- >Herpes Simplex Virus I - cold sores, usually oral
- >Herpes Simplex Virys II - genital herpes
- >
- >They must be fairly closely related as the same medicine works for both
- >HSV-I and HSV-II. I use Acyclovir topical creme for cold sores. A friend
- >of mine who has HSV-II uses Acyclovir (commercial name Zvorax) in pill
- >form when he has an outbreak.
- >
- >For cold sores Zvorax works great. I've had cold sores since I can
- >remember and none of the over-the-counter remedies ever did anything
- >except tingle and give the impression it was doing something..the cold
-
- You cant argue with success. However, in NEJM, 1992, 327:782-785, in an
- article on acyclovir, the authors state "Despite early suggestions
- that topical therapy w/5% acyclovir was effective for HSV-1 orolabial
- infections, subsequent studies showed no clinical benefit, most likely
- bcs of the poor penetration of the drug...Current data do not support
- the use of topical acycloivr for herpes labalis. Oral acyclovir (200
- mg po q 4h x 5d) reduces length of time to the loss of the crusts by
- apporximately one day (7 vs. 8 d) but does not alter the duration of
- pain or the length of time to complete healing...Thus oral therapy has a
- slight clinical benefit only if initiated very early... and cannot be
- recommended as a routine tx..."
-
- TZ
-
-
-
- --
- Tony Zador
- zador@cs.yale.edu
-