RT Book, Section A1 Baden, Lindsey R. A1 Dolin, Raphael A2 Kasper, Dennis L. A2 Fauci, Anthony S. SR Print(0) ID 1141410603 T1 ANTIVIRAL CHEMOTHERAPY, EXCLUDING ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS T2 Harrison's Infectious Diseases, 3e YR 2017 FD 2017 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259835971 LK accessbiomedicalscience.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1141410603 RD 2024/10/09 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.