The paper considers the clinical characteristics of herpes zoster (HZ) and its complications in different patient categories. It gives the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of unusual nucleoside agents in the treatment of varicella-zoster virus infection. The authors show the advantages of famciclovir in the therapy of HZ, particularly the effect of the drug on the manifestations of acute herpetic neuralgia and its ability to reduce the risk of post-herpetic neuralgia.