Antiviral therapy for recurrent herpes simplex reconsidered.

The purpose of this paper is to present our long-time concern about the safety of using antiherpetic drugs over extended periods of time as a preventive therapy for recurrent herpetic attacks. It has been shown that when herpes simplex virus (HSV) is inactivated and has thus lost its cytolytic activity by exposure to certain chemicals or ultraviolet irradiation, it can cause neoplastic changes in mammalian cells. Therefore, substances that inhibit (but not absolutely eliminate) HSV replication for prolonged periods of time might be of potential danger for the development of cancer. It becomes incumbent upon us to ask ourselves whether the prolonged inhibitory effect of prophylactic antiviral drugs might not carry with it the same risks as has been proposed for other substances known to inhibit viral replication.