Antiviral drugs as well as natural remedies have been used to reduce symptoms and the rate of recurrences of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, a common disease. To evaluate anti-HSV-1 activity of a pine cone lignin and ascorbic acid treatment, a clinical pilot study was carried out. Forty-eight healthy patients of both genders between 4 and 61 years old (mean: 31+/-16 years), with active lesions of HSV-1, took part in the study. According to the HSV-1 stage at the presentation, the patients were classified into the prodromic (16 patients), erythema (11 patients), papule edema (1 patient), vesicle/pustule (13 patients) and ulcer stages (7 patients). One mg of lignin-ascorbic acid tablet or solution was orally administered three times daily for a month. Clinical evaluations were made daily the first week and at least three times a week during the second week after the onset and every six months during the subsequent year to identify recurrence episodes. The patients who began the lignin-ascorbic acid treatment within the first 48 hours of symptom onset did not develop HSV-1 characteristic lesions, whereas those patients who began the treatment later experienced a shorter duration of cold sore lesions and a decrease in the symptoms compared with previous episodes. The majority of the patients reported the reduction in the severity of symptoms and the reduction in the recurrence episodes after the lignin-ascorbic acid treatment compared with previous episodes, suggesting its possible applicability for the prevention and treatment of HSV-1 infection.

The chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) contains a wide range of excellent bioactive compounds. However, limited information exists on the antiviral activity of the compounds extracted from chaga. A number of subfractions of chaga were obtained using different solvents and different procedures. The subfractions of chaga extracted with water, alcohol, alkali were tested for their toxicity for the Vero cell culture and antiviral effect in the Vero cells infected with the Herpes simplex virus (HSV), Type 1. It was shown that most of the subfractions were not toxic for the Vero cells and had protective effect on the Vero cells infected with HSV. The subfraction IV in the concentration 5 microg/ml protected the Vero cells from cytodestructive action of HSV and no viral DNA was detected in infected cells treated with chaga extracts. Best protective effect was observed when compound was added before or within one hour after the Vero cells were infected with HSV.

Despite considerable recent work to reveal different features of mushrooms species, the few studies of antiviral activities are inadequate and therefore further studies are required. Morchella conica, M. esculenta, Terfezia boudieri, Pleurotus ostreatus, Tricholoma anatolicum, Fomes fomentarius, Laetiporus sulphureus, Phellinus igniarius, Porodaedalea pini, and Pyrofomes demidoffii from Turkey were investigated to reveal their in vitro cytotoxic and anti-herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) activities. The crude methanol extracts (MEs) and aqueous extracts (AEs) of fungal species and acyclovir (ACV) were used. Various dilutions were used to assess the cytotoxic effects of fungal species (50-0.10 mg/mL) and ACV (500-0.98μg/mL) on uninfected Vero cells. Maximum nontoxic concentrations were determined for all extracts and ACV by comparing the optical densities of their cell controls. The concentration providing 50% protection against the cytopathic effect caused by the virus, extracts, and ACV (EC50) was calculated,and the half-maximal cytotoxic concentration (CC50) and the selectivity index (SI) were determined, the latter as the ratio of CC50 to EC50. While the AEs of F. fomentarius (EC50, 11.22 mg/mL; SI>4.46), Ph. igniarius (EC50, 9.71 mg/mL; SI>5.15), and P. pini (EC50, 7.16 mg/mL; SI>6.98) showed considerable antiherpetic activity, MEs and AEs of the other fungal species did not showed any effects. The EC50 and SI of ACV were determined as 0.20μg/mL and 3085, respectively. The results demonstrate that F. fomentarius, Ph. igniarius, and P. pini have important anti-HSV-1 activity.

Recurrent infection with herpes simplex virus is a common disease. Recently, alternative therapies have been introduced. Among those, low-intensity laser therapy mainly used for the acceleration of wound healing and in pain therapy has previously been shown to be of benefit in herpes zoster infections. In this study we evaluated the influence of low-intensity laser therapy (wavelength 690 nm, intensity: 80 mW per cm2, dose: 48 J per cm2) in 50 patients with recurrent perioral herpes simplex infection (at least once per month for more than 6 mo) in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial design. Patients in the laser group received daily irradiations for 2 wk, whereas patients in the placebo group were sham-irradiated. After completion of the laser/sham treatment, patients were asked to return to the Department of Dermatology, University of Vienna Medical School at the time of recurrence. All except two patients completed the study and were monitored for 52 wk. The median recurrence-free interval in the laser-treated group was 37.5 wk (range: 2-52 wk) and in the placebo group 3 wk (range: 1-20 wk). This difference was found to be statistically significant (p<0.0001; Wilcoxon's Rank Sum Test). In conclusion, we demonstrated that a total of 10 irradiations with low-intensity laser therapy significantly lowers the incidence of local recurrence of herpes simplex infection. Since this athermic phototherapeutic modality represents a safe, noninvasive treatment, it might be considered as an alternative to established therapeutic regimens in this indication.