The intestinal absorption of orally administered hydrolytic enzymes and their effects in the treatment of acute herpes zoster as compared with those of oral acyclovir therapy

Oral enzymes are known as therapy of herpes tester for more than 30 years. Nevertheless, today's standard treatment of herpes tester in immunocompetent patients is oral acyclovir. Other therapies are no longer customary because of their insufficient efficacy and frequent side effects. The positive results obtained in earlier studies with an orally administered enzyme combination preparation has led to the assumption that this might definitely represent an alternative therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the enzyme combination differs from acyclovir with regard to efficacy and tolerance in the treatment of acute herpes taster. In this double-blind, controlled, multicenter trial, immunocompetent patients with herpes zoster were randomly assigned to receive one of the two test drugs for 7 days. The parameters of pain and skin lesions were measured over 14-21 days. Forty-four patients were enrolled in the enzyme therapy (ET) group and 46 in the acyclovir therapie (AT) group. Following entry into the study, patients demonstrated no significant differences with respect to anamnestic or clinical data. Significant differences regarding the statistically evaluated parameters of efficacy were not seen either. Paracetamol use and total pain over 14 days also failed to reveal any notable differences between the two groups. Side effects were observed in four patients of the ET group and in three of the AT group. Results suggest that the therapy of herpes tester with an orally applied enzyme combination preparation is a valid and even cheaper alternative to therapy with acyclovir.