Abstract
Until recently, when it was shown that vidarabine (adenine arabinoside) was effective in treating serious viral infections, most virologists questioned whether antiviral agents would be clinically useful. It was believed to be impossible to block viral replication without inhibiting normal cell metabolism. Viruses are, after all, obligate intracellular parasites, dependent on host cells for energy, nucleotide and amino acid building blocks. Viruses utilize the metabolic pathways of the cell. As more has been learned about the molecular biology of viruses, it has become evident that there are viral and virus-specified components that are sufficiently unique in the virusinfected cell that they can be inhibited without adversely affecting the host cell.
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© 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
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Galasso, G.J. (1984). Antiviral Drugs. In: Notkins, A.L., Oldstone, M.B.A. (eds) Concepts in Viral Pathogenesis. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5250-4_51
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5250-4_51
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