RT Book, Section A1 Baden, Lindsey R. A2 Jameson, J. Larry A2 Fauci, Anthony S. A2 Kasper, Dennis L. A2 Hauser, Stephen L. A2 Longo, Dan L. A2 Loscalzo, Joseph SR Print(0) ID 1155969457 T1 Antiviral Chemotherapy, Excluding Antiretroviral Drugs T2 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 20e YR 2018 FD 2018 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259644016 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1155969457 RD 2024/10/11 AB The field of antiviral therapy—both the number of antiviral drugs and our understanding of their optimal use—historically has lagged behind that of antibacterial treatment, but significant progress has been made in recent years on new drugs for several viral infections. The development of antiviral drugs poses several challenges. Viruses replicate intracellularly and often use host cell enzymes, macromolecules, and organelles for synthesis of viral particles. Therefore, useful antiviral compounds must discriminate between host and viral functions with a high degree of specificity; agents without such selectivity are likely to be too toxic for clinical use.