Publisher's Synopsis
Antiviral chemotherapy is still far away from the high success rate of antibacterial therapy, but the situation is improving. In recent years, several new substances have been found to be active against a variety of viral infections. This special issue presents the current possibilities and the most promising new approaches for treatment of AIDS, hepatitis B and C, papillomas and infections by members of the Herpesviridae family. Most antiviral drugs continue to be nucleoside or nucleotide analogs. Lamivudine, e.g., originally developed against HIV, and famciclovir, developed against herpesviruses, have both turned out to be very effective against hepatitis B virus. Several new substances which have proven active against HIV, cytomegalovirus, varizella/zoster virus or herpes simplex virus, are described in detail. No adequate therapy currently exists against hepatitis C, but the expression of some potential target molecules of the virus opens up ways to search for specific inhibitors. Further topics considered are the use of immunostimulatory drugs, and the role of viral and cellular resistance mechanisms in long-term antiviral therapy. Providing the latest data on the usefulness and limitations of licensed and experimental drugs, this issue will be of interest to all medical virologists and infectious disease specialists as well as to hepatologists and transplantation specialists.
