Oral acyclovir at a dose of 800 mg five times daily for seven dayswas compared with placebo in a randomised double blind trialconducted at three centres in the United Kingdom. The studygroup comprised 205 elderly immune competent patients sufferingfrom herpes zoster who were entered within 72 hours of theonset of rash. Acyclovir significantly reduced the times to arrestof new lesion formation (p=0.005), loss of vesicles (p<0-001),and full crusting (p=0-02) in those patients entered within 48hours of the onset of rash. In addition, there was a significantreduction in pain during treatment with acyclovir as comparedwith placebo (p=0-008). Of the patients with severe pain onentry, 40% (10/25) of those treated with acyclovir had no or onlymild pain at the end of treatment, whereas in the placebo groupall had residual moderate or severe pain (p<0-001). No clinicallyimportant adverse effects of acyclovir were reported.Oral acyclovir may modify acute herpes zoster and redu
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
