What Are Antiviral Medications Used For?

Antiviral medications are used to treat diseases caused by viruses. They can be seen as somewhat like antibiotics used to treat conditions caused by bacteria, though fewer viral illnesses can be treated with antivirals than bacterial illnesses can be treated with antibiotics.

Identification

• Antiviral medications can be used in the management of conditions like those caused by the alphaherpesvirinae (chicken pox, shingles, genital and oral herpes), hepatitis B and C, and influenza (flu) A and B.

Types

• Herpetic illnesses are treated with acyclovir, valacyclovir and famciclovir. Hepatitis B is treated with a wide array of drugs, and hepatitis C is treated with interferon and ribavirin. The flu can be treated with oseltamivir and zanamivir.

Effects

• Antiviral medications target viruses as they infect and replicate (make more copies of themselves) within host cells, often by blocking enzymes used by the virus as it carries out these functions.

Significance

• Medications used in the management of hepatitis C help many people clear this virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, most other antiviral medications only help to alleviate symptoms, such as those used to treat the flu and herpes.

Others

• A special class of antiviral drugs called antiretrovirals are used in the management of HIV disease, according to Avert.org.