Oral Dis. 2001 Jul; 7(4): 221-5.

LongoVital and herpes labialis: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Pedersen A.

The Oral Medicine Clinic, PeblingesÃ¸en, Copenhagen, Denmark. anne.l.pedersen@mail.tele.dk

OBJECTIVE: LongoVital (LV) (DK. Reg. No. 5178/75) is a herbal-based tablet enriched with the recommended daily doses of vitamins. The present study was undertaken to investigate possible prevention of recurrent herpes labialis (RHL) during 4 months' daily intake of LV. DESIGN: Placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised, clinical trial. SUBJECTS: Fifty-two patients with a minimum of 4 yearly HL episodes. METHODS: The patients were given either LV or placebo for 4 months and followed-up for another 4 months. The number, duration and maximal size of lesions were assessed. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients (Group A) received LV and 25 patients placebo (Group B). There were no statistically significant differences between Group A and Group B with respect to number, duration and size of lesions. Within Group A, however, there was a decrease in all three parameters after 2 months' intake of LV (P < 0.05). The decrease in the number of HL episodes in Group A lasted during the entire follow-up period (P < 0.05). At the end of the medication period, significantly more patients in Group A than in Group B assessed the number and duration of recurrences to be reduced compared with before the trial (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: LV was not superior to placebo in the prevention of RHL although subjective assessment was in favour of LV, and the LV group had less episodes after 2 months on the tablets.