Introduction: Comprehensive treatment of Herpes-simplex-virus-encephalitis (HSVE) remains a major clinical challenge
2005)
SUMMARY
Current gold standard for therapy is acyclovir, a drug that inhibits viral replication
Comprehensive treatment of Herpes-simplex-virus-encephalitis (HSVE) remains a major clinical challenge
Acyclovir in a dose of 10 mg/kg administered as an intravenous infusion over 1 hour every 8 hours for 14 days (21 days in immuno-compromised cases) is indicated in HSVE 56
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis is a rare but serious neurological infection with an estimated annual incidence of 1 in 250,000 to 500,000
Usually these medicines work for only one kind or group of virus infections
In one trial, 174 immunocompetent subjects with recurrent oral herpes were randomly assigned to oral acyclovir (400 mg taken five times daily for five days) versus placebo within one hour of onset of prodromal symptoms
Early diagnosis and treatment with acyclovir is essential to prevent complications
Worldwide, herpes simplex encephalitis is the most common cause of non-epidemic encephalitis
Although acyclovir will not cure herpes, it Herpes simplex virus encephalitis is caused mostly by HSV-1 (95% of cases), with 5% of cases due to HSV-2
However, there are three nuances that should be considered: Learn about Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex, including symptoms, causes, and treatments
Both HSV type 1 — associated with cold sores and fever blisters around your mouth — and HSV type 2 — associated with genital herpes — can cause encephalitis
†Acyclovir 200 mg orally five times/day is also effective but is not recommended because of the frequency of dosing
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis in humans []