Acyclovir topical therapy of cutaneous herpes simplex virus infection in guinea pigs.

The chemotherapeutic efficacy of acyclovir was evaluated by observing the potential of topical acyclovir to reduce the severity of herpes viral lesions and to control the multiplication of this virus in the experimentally induced primary cutaneous infection of guinea pigs. Topical acyclovir showed a substantially high therapeutic efficacy when treatment was initiated after the development of clinically overt skin lesions. The therapeutic response was dose dependent and clearly evident even when the treatment was initiated on day 2 after inoculation. Our results indicate that topical acyclovir treatment improved the cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infectious process by inhibiting multiplication of HSV-1 in the skin of guinea pigs.