HERPES LABIALIS TREATMENT STUDIED

medicines were used as the sources of manuctureddrugs such as digitalis and quinine. Some drug companies st use plant soures in their seareh for newer and more powerful drugs. Homeopathic dic come

from plants, aimals, minerals and stic chemicals. They are considered homeopathic if they

are

recorded

in' the

"home-

to cau

whengiven6 to healthy people. A homeopath-

or

physical benefits

medicwe

must, be as

cloe as

possible to the same substance used in the onal "provings." Homeo

Pharmaco-

peia gives directions for select-

ing and preparng medicines prescribed~ homjeopathic physicians.

Chinese herbal medicines are by the Chinese to treat common ailments,,: such as coughs and indeon. Of the

used mainl

7,000 speces ofmediin plants used in China, only 230

of the most commo-inluding ginaseng, gan0ca and have been tested nm pharmacomd or

herbal

re used individuall

combined,

usmg ingredients

to

discussions of nontraditional medicines and remedies from

within 1 hour of the first sign or symptom of a cold sore and then

time

some

to time.

(Gen

Dent

TREATMENT

STUDIE0D

bialis (cold about 20 percent ofthe U.S. population. Acyclovir, a common tteatment for recurrent H. labialis, has been found effective only when applied in the.early lsion stags. A stdy in the May 7 Journal of the Recurret He

sores)

afc

AmericanM

a

Associa-

tion finds tha pencicov cream is the first treatment to shw H.

efetiveness

abials

when

on recurrent

ated m

both the early and later lesion stages.

Reiearchers in

4ud

tisst

the safey and efficaCy of perct penciclovir cream in a randomized,

compared

31-center,

idobeblind, pnlacebo-

of2209

experie ces or

healthy

history

Chinese patent medicines herbal etr ctso contain ml

of recurrent H. labialis enrolled

or

traditional Western drugs

832 JADA, Vol. 128, July 1997

or

M

h

dmly

st

pith

The

apply

the stud

mication

every 2 hours while awake for 4

consecutive days. They were in-

controlledtial. Attal

chosen based

ceam or a

umn's author plans to include

mimize

tions

caowu-

logcal stdies. Chiese

percent penccovir

the adverse reacOf ingrdients. To help keep dentists informed and to dat, the colto

or

eet

c

blind manner to receive either 1

control cream that was identical to the test cream ecept for the penciclovir. Patients who experienced recurrent H. labialis were asked

gism of the beneficial efc

1997;45[21:112-5)

opathic provings and have proven

earth metals. These products are combined to achieve syner-

a

were ran

assigned in a;double-

structed to return t6 the clinic g thra24 hours after be py for daily evaluations and viral tests of the lesios. patients were also asked to make diary entries four times a day to record lesion stages and painl levels.

During the 15-month study, 1,573 patients experie d recurrent H. Iabialis and intiated treatment. Of these patients, 782 received the penciclovir cream and 791 received the control cream. Healing of classic lefaster in sions was 0.7 to 1 the control than the test group and viral group. Lesion pain shedding also resolved more quickly in the test group than in the control group. The effectiveness

of penciclovir

cream

was

comparable when therapy was initiatd at both the early and late le1sion stages. (JAMA

1997;277[171:1374-9) Compried by Amy E. Lund,

nator.

editorial coordi-