Dehydroemetine therapy for herpes zoster. A comparison with corticosteroids

A study involving forty patients, all sixty years of age or over, compared the use of dehydroemetine in twenty and triamcinolone in twenty for the treatment of herpes zoster. Pretreatment evolution was less than ten days. Patients treated with dehydroemetine did not experience postherpetic neuralgia, and in fourteen pain completely disappeared at the end of only one series of treatment, which in four patients consisted of only three injections. Postherpetic neuralgia developed in only eight patients out of those treated with triamcinolone, and in four pain persisted for more than six months. The results of laboratory tests, including cardiovascular evaluation, remained normal with both drugs.