Treatment and prevention of genital herpes

Genital herpes is one of the commonest sexually transmitted infections. Several antiviral drugs, including acyclovir, famciclovir, and valaciclovir, are now (or will soon be) available for the treatment of genital herpes. First episode genital herpes should be treated with oral acyclovir 200mg five times daily for 5- 10 days. Recurrent genital herpes should be treated with either intermittent oral acyclovir or, in patients with frequent recurrences, long-term suppressive oral acyclovir. Some patients apparently fail to respond to suppressive oral acyclovir. This is usually due to inadequate dose, although resistance to acyclovir may occur in immunosuppressed patients. Phase III clinical trials are now underway to evaluate the efficacy and safety of herpes simplex virus vaccines. (author abstract)