Prophylactic studies against herpes infections in severely immunocompromised patients with acyclovir

A total of 59 patients, including 20 undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and 39 who were receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy (CT), were included in a placebo-controlled trial of intravenous acyclovir as a prophylactic against herpes simplex virus infections. Fifty per cent of the patients (both BMT and CT) receiving placebo developed herpes simplex virus infections; in those receiving acyclovir, none of the BMT group and 10 per cent of the CT group became infected with herpes simplex. Prevention of herpes infections in the immunosuppressed is clearly both desirable and, in the case of herpes simplex virus, attainable.