What is antiviral therapy?

Unlike bacteria that can be killed relatively simply antibiotics, such as penicillin, viruses are not so easy to end. In virtually all cases of serious viral infections, antivirus therapy is less administered with the intention of destroying the virus than simply slowing its growth and forcing it to peace. Antiviral therapy is considered to be more complex science than antibiotics, because the nature of viruses and the way they replicate is quite difficult to develop drugs that focus on pathogen but do not do the same damage to healthy cells.

Vaccines were effective in preventing viral infection since the 18th century. Until the 1960s, however, there was no way to fight the virus as soon as the infection occurred. The first successful efforts were made against the Herpes virus - tribes, whose tribes, in addition to cold ulcers and genital herpes, are also responsible for diseases such as chicken smallpox and shingles. Progress in fighting viruses continuing-or-miss fashion up to 80.Ytly to scientists a much clearer travel map for the development of new, more refined antiviral therapeutic treatment procedures. Especially with HIV treatment, billions have been invested in the development of effective antiviral therapy to conquer the virus, which eventually leads to an incurable state known as the syndrome of the acquired immune deficiency (AIDS).

The two most common types of antiviral therapies include substances known as nucleotide analogs and interferons. The nucleotide analogs try to suppress the ability of the virus to enter a healthy cell and take it for replication. It seems that viruses are normal nucleotide, a substance that requires repetitions, but effectively sabotage the replication process and cause the virus to stop duplication. The first drugs developed to combat herpes and HIV were this type of antivirus.

interferons are compared to proteins that work to prevent spread to other cells and increaseIt owns the body's own immune system in the fight against the virus. They also inhibit the replication of the virus, but also highlight naturally occurring immune cells such as macrophages, to the presence of the target virus. The common side effects of the use of interferon are weight loss and a general feeling of malaise that tends to limit the rate to which it can be used.

Although viruses are fundamentally different from bacteria, antiviral drugs and antibiotics suffer from increased resistance over time, as bacteria and viruses mutate over generations to survive the type of treatment. This is largely due to the fact that most antivirol must be focused against a specific virus. Only a few types interferons can be used against a wide range of viruses. The growing strategy in antiviral therapy is to combine the use of nucleotide and interferon treatments together, in an effort to abolish the advantage of developing the advantage of developing resistance to a certain type of treatment.