Varicella zoster virus (VZV) primo-infection can be severe in the elderly and in immunocompromised patients. Atypical presentations are not uncommon and may mislead the diagnosis and delay adequate treatment. Valacyclovir prophylaxis should be systematically proposed in immunocompromised patients.

Introduction Reactivation of herpes viruses, such as Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), simplex 1 (HSV1), and varicella zoster (VZV), increases in astronauts during spaceflight, compared with their preflight postflight levels. Reactivations can increase the risk associated clinical conditions, zoster, chronic neuropathic pain, vision loss, stroke, cognitive impairment, cold sores. Furthermore, continued...

Buprenorphine is a partial mu agonist and kappa antagonist which is used for the treatment of pain and opioid addiction. A mixture of buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride has been approved for the treatment of opioid dependence.In this study a third order derivative spectrophotometric method based on zero-crossing technique has been used for the simultaneous determination of b...

A novel stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatographic assay method was developed and validated for valacyclovir in the presence of degradation products generated from forced decomposition studies. A Hypersil ODS C-18 (250 x 4.6 mm, packed with 5 micron) column in an isocratic mode with the mobile phase acetonitrile: phosphate buffer (pH3.6) (50:50%v/v) was used. The flow rate was...

Hydroa vacciniforme is a rare, usually quite severe, photo-dermatosis. Association with Epstein-Barr virus infection and a possibly increased risk of lymphoproliferative malignancy have been demonstrated. We describe here four patients with Epstein-Barr virus-associated hydroa vacciniforme treated with acyclovir/valacyclovir therapy with a good clinical response. The children were reported to h...

BACKGROUND Epidemiologic data suggest that infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is associated with increased genital shedding of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA and HIV-1 transmissibility. METHODS We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of HSV suppressive therapy with valacyclovir (at a dose of 500 mg twice daily) in Burkina Faso among w...

PURPOSE Despite aggressive therapies, median survival for malignant gliomas is less than 15 months. Patients with unmethylated O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) fare worse, presumably because of temozolomide resistance. AdV-tk, an adenoviral vector containing the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene, plus prodrug synergizes with surgery and chemoradiotherapy, kills tumor cel...

Peptide transporters (PEPT1 and PEPT2) in epithelia play an important role in the absorption of small peptides and peptide-like drugs. Recently, it was demonstrated that various nonpeptidic compounds can be transported by these transporters. In the present study, we focused on the L-amino acid ester compounds and examined the mechanisms of their interaction with rat PEPTs (rPEPTs) using stable ...

A mixture of acetaminophen, diphenhydramine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride is used for the symptomatic treatment of common cold. In this study, a derivative spectrophotometric method based on zero-crossing technique was proposed for simultaneous determination of acetaminophen, diphenhydramine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. Determination of these drugs was perf...