A Controlled Trial Comparing Foscarnet with Vidarabine for Acyclovir-Resistant Mucocutaneous Herpes Simplex in the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

INFECTIONS with acyclovir-resistant herpes simplex virus in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection may progress inexorably if untreated, becoming a source of severe pain, disfigurement, and bacterial superinfection. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 In all the index isolates tested from patients with HIV infection who have acyclovir-resistant herpes simplex infection, the activity of the viral thymidine kinase enzyme has been markedly decreased or absent. 3 , 4 , 7 8 9 Also, all such isolates have been susceptible in vitro to both vidarabine (adenine arabinoside) and foscarnet (phosphonoformic acid), neither of which requires activation by the viral thymidine kinase. Vidarabine is effective in the treatment of neonatal herpes simplex infection and . . .