Part XIV. Antiviral agents other than antiretrovirals: therapy for herpesvirus infections, viral hepatitis, and influenza.

The incidences of viral infectious diseases are increasing at an alarming rate in the US and worldwide. Antiviral therapy is challenging because viruses subsume normal host cellular mechanisms for many functions, have rapid replication rates, have poor error scanning when reading genetic code, and undergo frequent drug target mutations. This article will focus on antiviral drugs and principles of treatment for infections due to herpes simplex viruses (HSV1 and HSV2), varicella zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, and influenza virus. Therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection will be discussed in the next symposium segment.