Ozone as Therapy in Herpes Simplex and Herpes Zoster Diseases
AU: Mattassi, R.M.D., D'Angelo F.,M.D., Franchina A.,M.D., Bassi P.,M.D.
SO: From the Division of Vascular Surgery, Santa Corona Hospital, Milan, Italy
Abstract
It is known from many researches that ozone has a high antibacterial and
antiviral effect and this is utilized in the industrial treatment of
drinking water. Authors of this paper tried to utilize this ozone effect in
the treatment of some viral diseases of man. 30 patients with herpes zoster
and 27 with herpes simplex labialis were treated with injections of an
oxygen-ozone mixture. Patients with herpes zoster healed from cutaneous
lesions after a minimum of five and a maximum of 12 injections performed
once daily. 5 elderly patients complained of postherpetic pain. Herpes
simplex healed completely after a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5
injections. Only 3 recurrence of herpes labialis were observed in 3 years.
No side effects were noticed during treatment in all patients.
Herpes virus is a group of DNA-virus that range in size between 120 and 180
nm; they contain a lipid envelope, are sensible to ether and have a cubic
symmetry. Virus multiplication is intracellular. After entering the cell by
pinocytosis, nucleic acid is stripped from the capsid and specific virus DNA
strands are transcribed into specific mRNA, which is, in turn, translated to
synthesize virus-specific proteins and enzymes necessary for biosynthesis of
virus DNA. Newly formatted complete virions may be released by cell lysis of
budding from the cytoplasm (1). Principal routes of infection in man may be
respiratory, direct contact, transplacentar (H. Hominis), breast milk and
feces (Cytomegalovirus).
The main diseases occurring in man from these agents are:
Varicella (chickenpox)
Herpes Zoster
Herpes Simplex
Herpes labialis
Herpes genitalis
H. Hominis Type 1 and Type 2
Acute gingivostomatitis
Rhinitis
Keratoconjunctivitis
Meningoencephalitis
Eczema herpeticum
Cytomegalic inclusion disease
Herpes zoster is a disease caused by the same virus as varicella. It has
been suggested that it results from reactivation of virus that has lain
dormant in spinal nerves since an episode of chickenpox (2). It occurs often
in patients with neoplasm, specially lymphomas (3) and in elderly patients.
It is characterized by unilateral segmental inflammation of the spinal or
cranial nerves and their ganglions and by a painful localized vesicular
eruption of the skin along the distribution of the involved nerve. Skin
lesions starts with local redness and progress over the next 2 - 3 weeks
through red papules, vesicules, pustules and crusts. In young people pain
persists only a week or two after healing but in elderly patients it often
remains for over two months.
Herpes labialis is a chronic local infection of Herpes virus Hominis type I
with clinical recurrences associated with continued virus shedding rather
than reactivation of latent infection (4). Often recurrence appears after
infective diseases, exposure to sunlight, menstruations and tiredness.
Typically the disease is preceded by a brief period of itching and
inflammation followed by a vesicular eruption that later collapses and
ulcerates leaving a crust. The disease lasts about 8 - 15 days. Local
iodoxuridine can shorten pain and morbidity somewhat. No therapy is
available to prevent recurrence.
In spite of this excellent antiviral and antibacterial effect, ozone has not
been widely utilized in medicine because of the widespread belief that it is
toxic to man (13, 14). This opinion varies widely from the fact that
researches about ozone effects on animals were done by only observing
respiratory tract lesions after long-term inhalation of ozone. In fact,
while it is true that ozone is toxic if inhaled (but it is only a local
toxicity), it is also true that given in forms other than inhalation
(endovenous, intraarterial, intramuscular, subcutaneous, local, transdermal)
there is no toxic effect (15,16,17). Injected ozone can be given without
risks (if the injection technique is correct) because of the good solubility
of ozone in blood. Fundamental is to use a mixture containing medically
pure ozone. This can only be obtained utilizing a machine that produces
ozone from pure oxygen (and not from air).
To investigate the effect of ozone on some viral diseases we treated a group
of patients affected by Herpes Zoster and Herpes Simplex Labialis.
Material and Methods
In the period 1980-1982 we treated 30 patients affected by Herpes Zoster and
27 affected by Herpes simplex labialis. In the Herpes Zoster group 13 were
men and 17 women. Age range was from 9 to 76 years and the mean age was
41.4. In the Herpes simplex group, 12 were men and 15 women. Age range was
from 15 to 53 and the mean age was 34.5.
Face 5 cases
Neck 2 cases
Thorax 12 cases
Abdomen 8 cases
Upper limbs 1 case
Lower limbs 2 cases
Total 30 cases
Therapy performed in all patients consisted of injections of 20cc of a
oxygen-ozone mixture. The concentration of ozone was 20 gamma of ozone per
cc (20 ug/ml) of oxygen-ozone mixture. Injections were performed daily and
were stopped at complete healing (except in 5 patients of the Herpes Zoster
group and in 3 of the Herpes Simplex group which broke up therapy before
ending; see below). Special care was taken on the technique of injections:
gas mixture must be injected slowly (20 cc in 2-3 minutes). Some patients
sometimes noticed a sense of gurgling at the axillary region: 5 patients
had a slight cough for about 10 minutes after injections. No other side
effect was observed.
Results
Herpes Zoster: in all patients healing of skin lesions were observed after
a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 12 ozone injections. In the greater part of
patients (21) we had a disappearance of local redness after only 2-3 days of
therapy: especially in those patients that started therapy quickly at the
beginning of symptoms (fig. I and 2). Contemporaneously vesicules dried up
and crusts appeared. After beginning therapy no new vesicules appeared. The
disease course was "cut off" and complete healing was very quick. 5
patients broke up therapy because they felt well after a few injections; 2-4
days later new vesicules and pain appeared. Complete healing was achieved
after another cycle of therapy. Usually pain regressed contemporaneously
with disappearance of local redness; itching persisted for some days while
going on with therapy but disappeared at the end of therapy. In the other 5
patients, skin lesions healed but neuritis post-herpetica lasted for over 2
months; all of these patients were elderly (over 70 years) and started
therapy late after the beginning of symptoms. The other patients never had
neuritis post-herpetica.
Herpes Simplex: all patients healed after 1-5 injections. Best results
were reached in patients that began therapy early before vesicules appeared;
in these cases the disease healed directly without the appearance of
vesicules in 1-2 days. 3 patients with severe herpes labialis stopped
therapy after only one injection and observed appearance of new vesicules;
a new cycle of treatment allowed complete healing. It was noticed that
other patients with slight herpes healed after only one injection. Very
interesting that of this group of 27 patients treated, only 3 complained a
recurrence of disease and this recurrence were clearly attenuated in
comparison with their usual disease. The other 24 patients had no recurrence
during period of control (maximum 3 years).
According to these results we can assert that ozone seemed to be very
effective in the therapy of herpes zoster and herpes simplex labialis
diseases. We observed a clear shortening of the course of disease and, if
therapy starts early, also a "cut-off" of the course of disease. It can be
possible also that ozone obtains a complete healing of herpes simplex
labialis without recurrence after therapy but it is necessary to have a
longer time of control. It was important to perform injections daily, to
continue therapy till healing was complete and not to stop treatment
prematurely because immediate recurrence of the disease is possible. It is
interesting to notice the absence of side effects with ozone therapy.
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