Acupuncture treatment for herpes simplex infections. A clinical case report

Herpes simplex is a common skin disorder. There is no effective cure. The recent introduction of drugs, such as acyclovir, is indeed a great advance in its therapeutics. However, these drugs may only modestly reduce the length of an attack, but do not lengthen the remission nor prevent recurrences. Our very limited experience in two cases of herpes oral-labialis and three cases of herpes genitalis with acupuncture treatment seemed to indicate the possibility of a marked reduction of an episode, a lengthening of the remission, and a prevention of recurrences. We hope our report would encourage our colleagues to try acupuncture in the clinical management of herpes cases and to study its immunologic effects.