Taking Valaciclovir For Herpes Zoster. CBC Showed Raised ESR Level. Is This Due To Antibiotic?

Posted on Tue, 26 Feb 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 Answered on

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi
i was diagnoised with herpes zoster 3 weeks back and had valaciclovir 1000 mg thrice a day for 5 days. Two days back got my CBC done and my TLC is 0000 and ESR is 44- is it due to the antibiotics i hv taken-anything to worry ?? should i take any more medicines??

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (30 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX,

Thank you for posting your query.

First of all, I would like to reassure you that your blood reports are not a cause of concern and there is no need to worry.

Valaciclovir is a standard medication for treating herpes zoster and is quite safe. In any case, the abnormal blood reports are not due to this.

A TLC of 0000 and ESR of 44 are slightly high and can occur due to a mild bacterial infection. If you have fever, it needs investigation. However, if you have no fever, you can wait and watch.

I hope it helps. Please get back if you have any more queries.

Wishing you good health,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MBBS, MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar