Basic principles of management of patients with genital herpes

Background. Genital herpes is a chronic recurrent sexually transmitted viral disease. Recurrent genital herpes is a serious medical and psychosocial issue which significantly worsens patients’ quality of life. Such a course of the disease is a stressful and psycho-traumatic factor limiting patients’ social life. In addition, in about 10% of cases, relapses of genital herpes cause depression, acute psychosis and suicidal tendencies. Herpesvirus infection occupies a leading position among perinatal TORCH infections. Herpes infection exerts an unfavorable and often fatal effects on pregnancy and childbirth and it is of a relevant issue up today since its role in causing fetal and newborn disorders does not tend to decrease. Current an increase in genital herpes relapse rate dictates need for further research. Study of various etiotropic antiviral therapy regimens effectiveness is necessary for the further elaboration of optimal treatment regimens and preparation for pregnancy. Aim. To search for adequate etiotropic antiviral therapy regimens aimed at reducing genital herpes relapse rate. Materials and methods. To write this review domestic and foreign publications were searched in Russian and international search systems (PubMed, eLIBRARY, etc.) for the last 2-10 years. The review includes articles from peer-reviewed literature. Results. The review describes features of genital herpes clinical course, its diagnosis, differentiated diagnosis and complications. Various treatment regimens are presented. The effectiveness of etiotropic therapy with various drugs was estimated. Conclusions. Episodic use of valaciclovir for recurrent genital herpes allows to reduce significantly a current relapse severity and duration as well as to provide psychological support to patients.