Genital Herpes Treatments

Genital Herpes Topics

Treating Genital Herpes - From Initial To Intermittent Treatment

All genital herpes patients should be managed effectively to help improve public health in general, as well as providing individual care. Your first course for your genital herpes treatment is typically prescribed during a flare-up and usually lasts a short time, typically around seven to ten days. Hopefully by that time your sores will have cleared up, but if not, your doctor will continue your treatment. Next comes the course of action for intermittent treatment.

Intermittent therapy treats recurrences as they occur.

The clinical value of oral anti-viral treatment for genital herpes is now well-established. Even when you have genital herpes, you do not always have an outbreak of sores. However, if you do, then you'll need an intermittent genital herpes treatment. Typically you take a pill for two to five days as soon as you notice sores coming on. This will make them go away quicker. If the sores do not go away within seven days, you may need to consult your doctor.

Episodic (intermittent) therapy only treats recurrences as they occur and has no effect on subsequent recurrences. Patients can self-initiate therapy at the first sign or symptom of a recurrence. This allows treatment to begin earlier (than if the patient had to visit a doctor to get a prescription) and can produce better clinical results. Episodic therapy reduces duration of the outbreak, reduces duration of pain, speeds lesion healing, reduces duration of viral shedding, can prevent (abort) development of vesicular and ulcerative lesions.

In general, recurrences are much milder than the initial outbreak. The virus sheds for a much shorter period of time (about 3 days) compared to in an initial outbreak of 3 weeks. Women may have only minor itching and the symptoms may be even milder in men.

On average, individuals experience four recurrences a year, although this varies widely depending on the severity of the initial outbreak. Men, for example, have 20% more recurrences of genital herpes than women even though their symptoms are milder. Many patients report 5 to 8 recurrences in the first year, but some experience them as often as every 2 weeks. Some, though, have only one initial outbreak without any subsequent recurrences, a rate more typical of those with HSV-1.

According to one study, patients with genital herpes usually notice a significant reduction in recurrence by the seventh year after infection. Some patients, however, particularly those with genital HSV-2, may actually face an increase in recurrence during the first 5 years.

For genital herpes treatment in the intermittent stage often the symptoms of the disease tend to come back, and when they do, antiviral drugs are prescribed once more. This is the intermittent stage of the therapy. It can take up to a week for the herpes symptoms to go away and for recurring intermittent outbreaks most recurrent infections are mild enough so that treatment is not needed. When it is, acyclovir, famciclovir, or valacylovir are all useful. Some patients may take intermittent, short-term preventive (prophylactic) therapy.

Tags: antivirals, Early detection and treatment , genital herpes, herpes, herpes treatment, Initial diagnosis, Initial treatment for Herpes, Medications for Herpes