Viral Vaccines and Antiviral Therapy

In this article the authors review the important viral infections affecting humans, and how they are prevented by vaccines and controlled by antiviral drugs. The different types of drugs and vaccines are listed and their mechanisms of action are discussed. For drugs, these include toxicity and viral resistance, whereas for vaccines, these include generation of autoimmune reactions, contamination by other previously unknown pathogens, reversion of an attenuated to virulent strain, and reactogenicity. The authors discuss how these were understood and the preventative methods instituted to prevent them.