00:01 So turning now to the treatment of herpes simplex infections, let’s talk about how you treat the first clinical episode. 00:11 And the duration of that therapy is 7 to 10 days, and you can use either acyclovir, valacyclovir, or famciclovir. 00:23 These agents work by being chain terminators. 00:28 So as the herpes virus is trying to make more DNA, these are false basis so the chain of DNA is broken. 00:39 If you're talking about recurrent episodes, the duration of treatment is variable, but you use the same agents for 2 to 5 days, 3 to 5 days, or 1 to 5 days. 00:55 Now, how do you manage recurrences? First of all, you have to define what’s frequent. 01:02 And if a patient has, for example, one or two episodes a year, then it’s probably prudent to treat those individual episodes and not use any kind of suppressive therapy. 01:17 So if you have a professional person who’s job is interfered by the number of recurrences, you might consider suppressive therapy, and you do that with acyclovir orally twice a day, and the efficacy has been established for 6 years, or you could use valacyclovir. 01:44 Now, the difference between valacyclovir and acyclovir is, valacyclovir is the valine ester of acyclovir. 01:53 In other words, when you take that medication, it is better absorbed. 01:57 Once in the system, it becomes acyclovir. 02:01 So it’s got better bioavailability, and as you can imagine, it’s much more expensive. 02:09 Or you could use 1 gram of valacyclovir once a day, famciclovir – twice a day. 02:17 Now what about counseling people with genital herpes? Well, their sex partners should certainly be informed that they have had herpes. 02:31 Because of asymptomatic shedding of the virus, you could infect the person when you, yourself, were not symptomatic and you can actually give a person herpes simplex genitalis during asymptomatic periods. 02:49 Certainly and obviously, persons with genital herpes should remain abstinent when any lesions or any prodromal symptoms are still present. 03:01 And that concludes my discussion of herpes simplex genitalis.
The lecture Genital Herpes: Management and Etiology by John Fisher, MD is from the course Genital and Sexually Transmitted Infections. It contains the following chapters:
Which of the following is the most appropriate antiviral therapy of a first episode of genital herpes simplex virus infection?
Which of the following statements regarding the transmission of the herpes simplex virus is TRUE?
Which of the following treatment options is most appropriate in a currently asymptomatic patient who has ≥6 recurrent severe clinical episodes of genital herpes virus infection per year?
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