Effectiveness of antiviral agents for the prevention of recurrent herpes labialis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Hanieh Rahimi, Tom Mara, John Costella, Mark Speechley, Richard Bohay

Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology 2012 May

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The purpose of this study was to complete a systematic review and, if possible, a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of systemic and topical nucleoside antiviral agents in the prevention of recurrent herpes labialis (RHL) in immunocompetent subjects. Multiple comprehensive electronic and manual literature searches without language restrictions identified the studies to be included. Quality assessment and data synthesis methods followed those described in the Cochrane guidelines. Of 2,683 papers reviewed, 10 met the inclusion criteria. Oral acyclovir (800-1,600 mg daily) and valacyclovir (500 mg daily for 4 months) were shown to be effective in the prevention of RHL when taken prior to the appearance of any symptoms or exposure to triggers. Of the 10 papers reviewed, only 1 was determined to have a low risk of bias. This review found support for the use of systemic acyclovir and valacyclovir for the prevention of RHL. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Hanieh Rahimi, Tom Mara, John Costella, Mark Speechley, Richard Bohay. Effectiveness of antiviral agents for the prevention of recurrent herpes labialis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology. 2012 May;113(5):618-27