Combined therapy of human interferon (HI) and secretory immunoglobulin (S-IgA) in the treatment of human herpetic keratitis.

The topical action of a combined therapy of human interferon (3000 U/ml) and secretory immunoglobulin IgA (1,5 mg/ml) was studied in 56 patients with herpetic keratitis. The pain and photophobia disappeared within 48 h after the beginning of treatment and a marked reduction of the corneal lesion during the first week of treatment was observed in all the patients. The therapy was effective, with complete healing of the lesion in 94.8% of cases; 72.2% of them healed in less than 15 days. The highest frequency of healing was between 5 and 10 days, and the rest up to 30 days. Humoral, immunological and delayed hypersensitivity studies were carried out in 36 patients.