| Methods |
Double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial
2 active treatment groups (1) valacyclovir and a steroid, (2) valacyclovir plus placebo |
| Participants |
45 participants
Eligibility criteria: fever, sore throat, swollen lymph glands, exudative pharyngitis and EBV illness confirmed by positive EBV antibody profile showing acute illness |
| Interventions |
Intervention 1: valacyclovir 20 mg/kg/dose with 3 doses per day for 14 days plus prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day for 5 days
Intervention 2: valacyclovir 20 mg/kg/dose with 3 doses per day for 14 days plus placebo A once per day for 5 days
Control: placebo B 3 times per day for 14 days plus placebo A once per day for 5 days |
| Outcomes |
(1) combined score of sore throat, stomach ache, fatigue, swollen glands, headache, vomiting, rash, nausea, sweats, chills, swollen eyes, runny nose and cough
(2) selected score for sore throat, swollen glands, fatigue, nausea and chills
(3) feeling bad
(4) fatigue |
| Notes |
— |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Does not state |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Allocation handled remotely |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Does not state who was blinded |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Does not state how many participants were lost to follow‐up. Patients that did not complete the study or had a missing result had their last observation carried forward |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
— |
| Other bias |
Unclear risk |
— |
