These drugs also have been proven to significantly reduce the severity, duration, and frequency of occurrences. There is now also a generic version of acyclovir available. All three drugs must be prescribed by a licensed physician. Famvir and Valtrex are now available for both intermittent acute and daily suppressive therapy. There are basically two types of drug intervention.
Acute therapy means taking the drug to reduce or prevent a specific, individual outbreak.
It involves taking regular doses of the medication for a period of usually 5 days, starting with the first signs of impending outbreak. Since these medications work on new viruses as they are replicating and coming out of latency, the best results are obtained by starting treatment at the very first indication of symptoms - tingling, itching, or burning, before a lesion shows. If treatment is started after a blister or lesion has formed, it may lessen or prevent any subsequent lesions, but it will not shorten the duration of the current lesion by very much if at all. Also, some people who want to reduce the risk of transmission to their sexual partners take suppressive doses of antiviral medication to reduce both the rate of outbreaks and asymptomatic shedding. There are no OTC products specifically labeled for genital herpes.