COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF TRANSFER-FACTOR AND ACYCLOVIR IN THE TREATMENT OF HERPES-ZOSTER

Reactivation of varicella herpes virus (VHV), latent in individuals wh o have previously suffered varicella, gives rise to herpes tester and in some cases leads to a sequela of post herpetic neuritis with severe pain which is refractory to analgesics. Many different antiviral agen ts have been tried without achieving satisfactory results. Of all the antiviral agents employed, acyclovir has been the most successful in r educing post herpetic pain. However acyclovir has not been as reliable as interferon alpha (IFN-alpha). We have previously looked into the u se of transfer factor (TF) as a modulator of the immune system, specif ically with respect to its effectiveness in the treatment of herpes te ster. In this work findings from a comparative clinical evaluation are presented. A double blind clinical trial of TF vs acyclovir was carri ed out in which 28 patients, presenting acute stage herpes tester, wer e randomly assigned to either treatment group. Treatment was administe red for seven days and the patients were subsequently submitted to dai ly clinical observation for an additional 14 days. An analogue visual scale was implemented in order to record pain and thereby served as th e clinical parameter for scoring results. The group treated with TF wa s found to have a more favorable clinical course, P less than or equal to 0.015. Laboratory tests to assess the immune profile of the patien ts were performed two days prior and 14 days after initial treatment. The results of these tests showed an increase in IFN-gamma levels, aug mentation in the CD4(+) cell population but not the percentage of T ro settes in the TF treated group. These parameters were however insignif icantly modified in patients receiving acyclovir. Although TF treated patients showed an increase in CD4(+) counts these cells remained belo w the levels for healthy individuals. The fact that IFN-gamma levels a s wells as the counts for CD4(+) cells rose in the TF treated group an d not in the acyclovir one is very significant and confirms the immuno modulating properties of TF. (C) 1998 International Society for Immuno pharmacology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.