Genital Herpes Treatment & Management: Options & Medications

Genital herpes, a condition caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus-2, affects different people in different ways. Some have few or no symptoms while others have frequent outbreaks. Together, physicians and individuals can decide how best to manage genital herpes.

Medications

• Genital herpes is managed with a group of antiviral medications commonly used for herpetic conditions. These include acyclovir, valacyclovir and famciclovir.

Daily Therapy

• People who have several outbreaks of genital herpes per year may be put on daily suppressive therapy, meaning they take an antiviral medication every day.

Benefits

• The Mayo Clinic reports that daily suppressive therapy can reduce the number of genital herpes outbreaks as well as lower the risk of transmitting the virus to partners.

Occasional Therapy

• People who have fewer outbreaks may take antiviral medications only when they feel an outbreak coming on. This decreases the length and severity of symptoms.

Considerations

• There is no cure for genital herpes. Although people tend to have fewer outbreaks over time, an infected person has the virus throughout the course of his life.