[Erroneous prescriptions of aciclovir and valaciclovir in herpes zoster treatment]

Medical prescription errors are frequent in community settings and information exploring its magnitude during antiviral treatment of herpes zoster is scarce. A questionnaire was applied to 31 physicians working in hospital- or community-based settings in Santiago, Chile in order to characterize their dosing and timing preferences for aciclovir or valaciclovir prescriptions. Aciclovir was more often prescribed than valaciclovir (71.9 and 28.1%, respectively), but less than a third of prescription (27.3%) fulfilled the minimal aciclovir dosing and timing criteria for clinical efficacy (4 gr per day and <72 hours since rash initiation). The limited size of the simple prevented exploring factors linked to a misleading prescription. Appropriate knowledge on dosing and timing of aciclovir/valaciclovir therapy for herpes zoster was infrequent in a sample of physicians working in various clinical settings in Chile.