New antiviral drugs

The number of available antiviral drugs increases constantly. Beyond antiretroviral compounds with activity against HIV, most of the recently introduced virustatic drugs unfold their activity against members of the Herpesvirus family, especially herpes-zoster- and herpes-simplex viruses. However, controlled studies on viral infections of the nervous system are rare, perhaps with the one exception of herpes zoster. Some studies on herpes zoster indicate that with modern antiviral substances like famiciclovir or valaciclovir acute zoster pain and post zoster neuralgia may be shortened in duration and reduced in frequency. Concerning the antiviral treatment of encephalitis with new virustatics, our experience is mainly based on case reports. Nevertheless, the broader spectrum of antiviral substances offers the possibility to treat individual encephalitis patients with drugs that have at least in vitro activity against the causative virus. In herpes-simplex-encephalitis, aciclovir remains the antiviral drug of first choice.