A recent double blind study into the effect of topical applications of Acyclovir and hydrocortisone has established that such treatments do not lead to a mutation of the herpes virus, making it less sensitive to Acyclovir. No resistance to Acyclovir was detected in patients receiving a combined Acyclovir/hydrocortisone treatment or Acyclovir monotherapy.
The results of three phase III studies were presented to a medical conference in Boston recently. This is good news for patients who have regular symptomatic episodes related to the Herpes Simplex virus as it means that they can continue to be treated in the normal way without any serious risk of the virus mutating and the symptoms becoming incapable of being controlled.