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British Medical Bulletin 41:345-350 (1985)
© 1985 The British Council

research-article

RESISTANCE AND LATENCY

H J Field

Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine University of Cambridge

Abstract

Viruses may acquire resistance to specific inhibitors by mutation and selection of less sensitive variants. For herpes simplex this can be demonstrated readily in tissue culture. A single base substitution can lead to change in the substrate specificity of a virus-induced enzyme and result, for example, in acyclovir resistance In man, the persistent nature of herpes infections with latency and recurrence means that protracted interactions between virus and drug are likely, perhaps favouring the development of resistance. However, the infection is transmitted relatively infrequently between individual and the complex interactions between the virus and its host mean that minor genetic changes readily disable the virus. These facts probably explain why drug resistance has not yet been recognized as a serious problem. However, it will be shown in the following article that clinical resistance to nucleoside analogues including acyclovir has been detected, and that these clinical observations are consistent with earlier findings in vitro and in animal models. This suggests that resistance to antiviral drugs will become a significant problem in the future.


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[Abstract] [Full Text]


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