Herpes zoster: Treatment with Clinacanthus nutans cream

• Main Authors: Somyot Charuwichitratana, Nussra Wongrattanapasson, Penwadee Timpatanapong, Malee Bunjob
• Other Authors: Mahidol University
• Format: Article
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Medicine
• Online Access: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/17789

One hundred and twenty patients with herpes tester after giving written informed consent, were allocated into a double-blind trial by block randomization to compare 5% Clinacanthus nutans cream to placebo cream. Patients with herpes tester ophthalmicus and those requiring acyclovir treatment were excluded. Patients with secondary bacterial infection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, or known sensitivity to any component of the drug or placebo cream, and those who were pregnant or lactating were also excluded. At the first visit, the patient's demographic data, duration of prodrome, duration of lesions, number and distribution of the lesions, and the pain score were recorded. The blood test for anti-HIV antibody (with the patient's permission) were done. All patients were supplied with identical tubes of greenish cream (either the drug or placebo) and normal saline. They were advised to apply the cream thrice daily on the skin lesions after a wet compress with normal saline. Wet compresses were discontinued when all vesicles became crusted, but the cream was used until there was complete healing. The severity of pain was recorded daily by the patient on a linear visual analogue scale of 0 to 4 from none to very severe. Date of full crusting and complete healing were also recorded. The patients were assessed by the investigators on days 2 or 4, 7, 10, 14, 28 for the number of lesions, severity of pain, adverse reactions, or any other complaints. At 2 months follow-up, the patients were considered to have postherpetic neuralgia if the pain persisted. The mean number of days for full crusting and complete healing of patients in the drug group was compared to the placebo group by unpaired Student T-test. The number of patients who had full crusting within 3 days and postherpetic neuralgia in each group were compared by Fisher's exact test.