30-Day Trial of Oral Valtrex or Valtrex Plus Aspirin on Shedding of HSV DNA in Tears and Saliva of Volunteers

Overview

The purpose of this study is to determine whether oral Valtrex alone or in combination with aspirin will reduce the shedding of herpes simplex virus DNA in the tears and saliva from volunteers with no evidence of ocular herpes infection. The secretion of virus into the tears and saliva might make people more susceptible to virus infection in the future if their immune system becomes deficient. The study will also try to determine if there is a correlation between shedding of viral DNA and herpes virus antibodies in serum and to determine if subjects are carriers of a special form of a gene in their blood cells, the presence of which may suggest the possibility of an increased susceptability to herpes and to Alzheimer's disease and heart disease.

Published studies have shown that treatment with oral acyclovir reduced clinical recurrences of ocular herpetic keratitis by about 40-50 %8, and treatment with valacyclovir, a more soluble prodrug of acyclovir, reduced the risk of transmission of genital herpes9, 10, 11. For this study, we will use the dose of valacyclovir that was shown effective in reducing the risk of transmission of HSV-2.9 The dose of 325 mg aspirin three times a day was chosen based on our experience with mice and other laboratory animals12. If it is effective and well tolerated at this dose, in future studies we will attempt to use lower doses and determine if they too may be effective.

Conditions