Intravenous acyclovir in genital herpes. An interim report

Twenty-five patients with primary genital herpes were treated in a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial of intravenous acyclovir. Thirteen patients received the drug and 12 a placebo. Three in each group were male. In the acyclovir group 10 patients had true primary herpes compared with six in the control group. The median time to healing of all lesions was significantly decreased from 11 to seven days (p less than 0.05), and the median duration of viral shedding from all lesions was decreased from eight to two days (p less than 0.001). The time to cessation of new lesions was decreased from a median of two days to zero days (p less than 0.001). Intravenous acyclovir is an effective treatment in decreasing the length and severity of primary genital herpes.