RSS Feeds
Does Acyclovir Worsen Late Varicella?
- Robert S. Klein, MD
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
In their double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, Wallace and associates [1] clearly showed a clinical benefit of oral acyclovir in the treatment of varicella when administered to immunocompetent adults in the first 24 hours after symptom onset. The lack of benefit from later administration was thought to be due to viral replication already being controlled by the intact immune system, making antiviral therapy superfluous.
Their data suggest that late administration of acyclovir might indeed worsen the course of disease, as shown by an increased number of days of new lesion formation (3.0 compared with 2.3 days, P = 0.03) and a greater maximum number of lesions (233 compared with 158 lesions, P = 0.03). Although not statistically different, time to maximum number of skin lesions, time to onset of cutaneous healing, and time to complete crusting of lesions all were longer in the acyclovir group.
Robert S. Klein
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
