Acyclovir for Treatment of Herpes Group Virus Infections in Children with Leukemia and Other Immunocompromised status

Abstract

Forty-eight immunocompromised patients receiving antileukemic drugs and/or steroid with herpes infections were treated with either intermittent (Group A) or continuous (Group B) infusions of Acyclovir (ACV), a new antiviral agent, to compare its clinical efficacy and side effects, from April to December 1982, by the Children's Cancer and Leukemia Study Group.
The clinical effective rates were high, being 96% and 91% in Group A and B, respectively. The difference was not statistically significant.
There were no significant difference between Group A and B in the following assessments; the time until the body temperature became normal, the time to the disappearance of vesicles, the time to scab formation and the time to the disappearance of pain following commencement of treatment.
Viral cultures of vesicle samples taken before and at 2 days of ACV administration were positive, but at 3 days they were negative or scabs had rapidly formed. Two patients showed changes in biochemical tests, one in renal function and the other in hepatic function, which seemed to be due to their primary diseases.
ACV treatment showed a significant impovement (p<0.05) compared with non-treatment, and there were no differences in the clinical results between intermittent (A group) and continuous (B group) infusion.