[New possibilities of drug therapy for herpes simplex infections of the skin].

Jodo-desoxyuridine (IDU) of different concentrations in different vehicles can shorten the duration of primary infections and recurrences of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections to about one third. Therapeutical failures can be due to the development of IDU resistence. Ethyl-desoxyuridine (EDU) in a gel base was found to reduce the mean duration of acute herpetic lesions to about 50%. 42 recurrences of 16 patients with herpes labialis and 36 recurrences of 10 patients with herpes genitalis were observed and statistically evaluated. In cold sores 0,3% EDU-gel had similar effects as the 2,0% EDU-gel, what shortened significantly (0,001 less than p less than 0,01) the duration of skin lesions. In herpes genitalis both concentrations had good effects. 0,3% EDU-gel reduced the healing time significantly (p less than or equal to 0,05). Remarkable was the quick disappearence of subjective complaints in all treated patients. Side effects were not observed.