|
|
Article: Suppressive drug therapy hinders herpes. (Biomedicine).(daily usage of valacyclovir)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- January 12, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A daily regimen of the antiviral drug valacyclovir controls genital herpes vastly better than does the same medication when used only to treat outbreaks of the disease, according to a new study.
To compare the effectiveness of the two approaches, scientists identified 66 people who averaged four to nine genital herpes recurrences per year. The researchers randomly assigned 34 people to take valacyclovir every day and 32 to take it for 5 days upon the first sign of a herpes episode. Doctors call the first approach suppressive therapy and the second, episodic therapy.
After 1 year, people taking the pills daily averaged 1.6 genital herpes recurrences, ...