Herpes treatment algorithms

Symptomatic herpes treatment: first vs. recurrent outbreaks

The algorithm below summarizes herpes treatment for symptomatic patients.

Two things are important to the choice of medication regimen: whether it’s the first or a recurrent outbreak and the location of the outbreak.

First outbreak

• The first outbreak is treated the same way regardless of the virus type and anatomic location (oral or genital area).

Recurrent outbreaks

• Which medication to take and how long it should be taken depends on the anatomic location of the virus, not the type of virus.

Herpes treatment to reduce the frequency of outbreaks and risk of transmission

People get the suppressive dose of antiviral herpes medication for two main reasons:

1. To reduce the number of herpes outbreaks per year (by 70%–80%), especially when they have over five outbreaks per year

2. To protect their partner(s) from getting the herpes infection (antiviral medication reduces the risk of herpes transmission by 50% (from 20% to 10%))

In the algorithm below, we summarize the main recommendations on treatment regimens that help to prevent both frequent outbreaks and herpes transmission.

Get treated and/or tested for herpes

Same day treatment and testing

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