Antiviral Prophylaxis in a Burn Population

Overview

A prospective, randomized trial to calculate incidence of Herpes Simplex Virus in an in-patient burn population and determine efficacy of prophylactic antiviral therapy to prevent viral infection and/or reactivation. Hypothesis is that antiviral prophylaxis will be effective in reducing HSV infection/reactivation.

A prospective, randomized trial of antiviral prophylaxis of at risk individuals has yet to be performed. We anticipate that the disease burden in our population of burn patients will be large, especially in patients who exhibit high risk characteristics, and hypothesize that antiviral prophylaxis will significantly reduce the incidence of Herpes Simplex Virus in the burn population. This study will have a profound impact on the treatment of burn patients both at our own institution and throughout the country. Prophylactic treatment using Acyclovir in burn patients would decrease patient morbidity, pain and suffering and would likely positively impact scarring, wound healing, and, ultimately, patient satisfaction and quality of life. Reducing the incidence of HSV infections will decrease the length of hospital stays for many patients, saving both health care expenses and resources. If prophylactic Acyclovir becomes standard of care treatment for burn patients, this treatment plan would be a tremendous public health breakthrough for preventing HSV outbreaks and could be extrapolated to researching similar protocols for other health conditions.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes