Stahler, Paul2008-12-022008-12-022008-12-02https://hdl.handle.net/11299/45619The information provided in this handout does not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Minnesota Medical School physicians and faculty. These materials are provided for informational purposes only and are in no way intended to take the place of the advice and recommendations of your personal health care provider. You use the information provided in these handouts at your own risk.The role of corticosteroids in acute herpes zoster infection remains unclear. Previous studies have suggested the use of prednisone and acyclovir leads to a decreased reduction in acute pain and development of postherpetic neuralgia. A recent review of the literature was performed using PubMed limiting the results to randomized control trials conducted in healthy adult patients. After reviewing three studies it was concluded that prednisone when combined with acyclovir does not reliably decrease the risk of developing postherpetic neuralgia but may decrease the time to cessation of pain and analgesic therapy. Additionally, the use of systemic corticosteroids may lead to unintended patient harm by increasing the likelihood of opportunistic infections. Based on these findings, there is insufficient evidence to support or reject the use of corticosteroids in acute herpes zoster infectionen-USherpes zosterpostherpetic neuralgiaacyclovirprednisoneOther