Antiviral Agents
Viral infections are treated by a special
type of drugs called antiviral agents. Unique antiviral agents are used to
treat different types of viral infestation. Antiviral agents should not be
mistaken with viricides.
The largest quantity of antiviral agents
drugs nowadays are made to fight the HIV or AIDS virus, herpes virus, influenza
viruses, hepatitis A,B,C viruses. The effectiveness of some means are
significant but some still need a more sophisticated approach.
To understand how antiviral agents medications
work we need to know the stages of viral development:
- Attachment to a cell
- Release of viral DNA, RNA or
enzymes into the cell
- Replication of the DNA which is
done by the infected cell
- Assembly of the virus
- Release of the virus from the
cell
The possible stages that can be affected by antiviral agents are:
- Firstly before virus attachment
when a virus is located in the intracellular space it can be inhibited
- Secondly the phase of
replication can be affected
- And lastly the Stage of release
is targeted.
Viral infestations are very serious and should be treated with
appropriate antiviral agents drugs and should not be mistaken with microbial
infection.
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