The use of antiviral drugs such as acyclovir, valaciclovir and famciclovir in the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the risk of serious birth defects, according to scientists from Denmark in the journal JAMA.
Antiviral drugs are most often used to treat herpes, according to statistics, more than 1 percent. pregnant women require treatment during the first trimester of pregnancy. Although the safety of aciclovir, valaciclovir and famciclovir is well documented, no data have been available to date on the use of antiviral agents in early pregnancy.
Bjorn Pasternak and Anders Hviid from the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen conducted a study of the relationship between the use of aciclovir, valaciclovir and famciclovir in the first trimester of pregnancy with severe birth defects. The study included 837795 newborns born in Denmark between 1996 and 2008. The participants of the study did not have any genetic defects or congenital viral infections.
Among 1,804 babies born to mothers treated with the study drugs during the first trimester, 40 newborns (2,2%) had serious birth defects, compared with 2,4%. children with defects in the control group (not taking antiviral drugs). After calculating the data for each drug separately and for birth defects from each group, neither drug increased the risk of any type of malformation.
The authors of the study emphasize that their work is the first documenting the safety of using antiviral drugs in early pregnancy in such a large group. In their opinion, acyclovir should be the drug of first choice, because it is the best-studied preparation so far. Scientists plan to further investigate the effects of antiviral drugs on pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. (PAP)