What drug therapy would you prescribe? Why?The best drug therapy for J.R condition is antiviral such as acyclovir, famciclovir, and valacyclovir. From the diagnosis, J.R is suffering from genital herpes. Genital herpes is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). According to Gnann Jr & Whitley (2016), HSV is also responsible for cold sores or fever blisters, which her partner had a history of. HSV-1 is responsible for fever blisters and HSV-2 for genital herpes. Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 are spread through contact with an infected person. Therefore, J.R was infected by her husband through kissing, oral sex, and normal sex. There is no cure for genital herpes since it is a viral infection, but an antiviral drug helps the ulcers and lesions in the reproductive system heal faster, reduces the chance of reoccurring, and minimizes transmission to another person, and lessens the severity of symptoms. The antiviral administered will boost her immune systems, thus able to eradicate the virus from her body. Valacyclovir is the most recommended antiviral drug for J.R condition since it is readily available, suppresses HSV virus, and prevents recurrence of the virus. Valacyclovir is administered orally; thus easier to take all the dosage.What are the parameters for monitoring the success of the therapy? One of the parameter to monitor is the symptoms. Genital herpes causes sores, lesions, and ulcers of the cervix and vagina. Healing of the sores indicates that the antiviral drug administered is working (Gnann Jr & Whitley, 2016). Since the antiviral drug is not curative but preventive, all the transmission channels (in this case, sores) heal to prevent transmission to J.R’s partner. White blood cells count is also an indicator of the success of the antiviral therapy. In this case, the antivirus is responsible for producing
white blood cells, which boost body immunity preventing further multiplication and invasion of the virus. More white blood cells prevent the recurrence of the virus.Discuss specific education for J.R. based on the diagnosis and prescribed therapy. It is important for J.R not to engage in sexual intercourse until her lesion and sore in her cervix and vagina have completely healed. This prevents transmission of the virus to her partner, which could result in reproductive infection.J.R needs to take her antiviral medication as recommended to suppress the symptoms and avoid reoccurrence. The medication helps in improving immunity, thus enabling healing. It is also important to avoid touching the sores as this may add bacteria to the sores making them difficult to heal (Shiraki, 2018). Furthermore, avoiding touching lesions and sores prevent transmission to others.During, genital herpes outbreak or fever blisters, it is important to use condoms during sexual intercourse. This prevents the transmission of HSV-1 and HSV-2 to the other partner if one is infected (Shiraki, 2018). It is also important to avoid kissing people with cold sores to avoid transmission.In summary, J.R contracted genital herpes from kissing and engaging in sexual intercourse with her partner, who had a fever blister history. Antiviral therapy would be the best drug therapy to suppress symptoms and prevent transmission. Suppressed symptoms and increased immunity are the indicative parameters for the success of antiviral therapy. J.R needs to take her full medication, abstain from sex until symptoms disappear, and avoid activities that would transmit the virus.ReferencesGnann Jr, J. W., & Whitley, R. J. (2016). Genital herpes. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(7), 666-674.Shiraki, K. (2018). Antiviral drugs against alphaherpesvirus. Human Herpesviruses, 103-122.