General Infectious Disease

Oral anti-viral medications are associated with a reduced risk of recurring eye disease caused by herpes simplex virus, researchers found.
In a retrospective analysis of patient data covering a period of 32 years, those not taking prophylactic anti-viral drugs had a markedly increased risk of epithelial keratitis, stromal keratitis, blepharitis, or conjunctivitis, according to Keith Baratz, MD, and colleagues at the Mayo Clinics in Rochester, Minn., and Jacksonville, Fla.

Patients who experienced a serious adverse outcome of the herpes infection -- such as loss of vision -- were only rarely taking prophylactic drugs, Baratz and colleagues reported in the September issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.