Virus-specific treatment

Zhu Y, CuUen JM, Aldrich CE, SaputelU J, MiUer D, Seeger C, Mason WS, JUbert AR (2004) Adenovirus-based gene therapy during clevudine treatment of woodchucks chronically infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus. Virology 327 26 0 zu Putlitz J, Wieland S, Blum HE, Wands JR (1998) Antisense RNA complementary to hepatitis B virus specifically inhibits viral replication. Gastroenterology 115 702-713... 

On the other hand, this procedure does not remove virus-specific components from the liquid. Even in cases where virions are destroyed completely following treatment, the product will remain immunogenic to the same extent as before the treatment. Nevertheless, no infectious virions able to reproduce, multiply, and cause an infectious disease will be found in the product. 

There is no specific treatment for human papilloma virus infection (condylomata accuminata). Therapeutic modalities consist of chemically or physically destructive agents including the podo-phylllin (applied weekly as a 10% solution in benzoin) or the less toxic podophyllotoxin 0.5% (applied twice daily for three consecutive days every week for up to 4 weeks cure rates are generally <50% and relapses are common). For older lesions various surgical techniques are advocated that are beyond the scope of this contribution. 

Viral arthritis is rather common and usually selflimited within a few weeks. The most common pathophysiological mechanism is not a direct virus invasion in the synovium but deposition of immune complexes. Viral infections frequently involve multiple joints and produce inflammation without suppuration. The typical clinical presentation is a peripheral and symmetrical polyarthritis, undistin-guishable from other inflammatory arthritis. Virtually all viruses can cause arthritis. There is no specific treatment and simple symptomatic measures are sufficient. 

Hepatitis Inflammation of the liver, usually because of infection with a virus, laundice, weakness, and digestive problems are common symptoms that may last for weeks or months. There is no specific treatment. 

Between 1964 and 1968, there were 4,478 confirmed cases of SLE, which is considered as a major epidemic (Burke and Monath, 2001, Chamberlin, 1980). Major outbreaks of SLE seem to occur only once in approximately 10 years. During non-epidemic years, less than 50 cases occur in the United States. There is no specific treatment for SLE. Good supportive care is essential, in particular because of high fevers and convulsions caused by the virus. 

A JEV like virus, Murray Valley Encephalitis Virus (MVE), has been responsible for several sporadic epidemics of encephalitis in southern Australia (Burke and Monath, 2001, Doherty, 1977). Like SLE and JEV, MVE appears to be spread by mosquito vectors. Isolation of MEV from brain tissue or serologic tests is used for diagnosis. There is no specific treatment or vaccine that has been designed for MEV. As vdth JEV or SLE, treatment is supportive. 

Screening and selection of the source plasma will only avoid contamination by known pathogens. The protein purification steps and specific virus reduction methods used in production processes, however, will inactivate and/or remove both known and unknown viruses. Terminal virus inactivation treatments are applied to product in final container and must balance virus inactivation with any modifications to protein immunogenicity, activity, and yield. While many upstream virus inactivation steps rely on chemical methods that involve the addition and subsequent removal of toxic agents (e.g., solvent/detergent), physical methods for virus inactivation, such as pH and heat, are used for terminal steps. 

Inadvertent inoculation, the most frequent complication of smallpox vaccination, refers to the transmission of the vaccinia virus from the inoculation site to another part of the recipient s body (autoinoculation) or to the bodies of close contacts (Fig. 2.8 see color plate 2.8). It can occur because live vaccinia virus is present at the inoculation site from about 4 days after inoculation until the crust separates from the skin. Maximum viral shedding occurs 4-14 days after inoculation. Inadvertent inoculation is responsible for approximately half of all complications for primary vaccination and revaccination. Because inadvertent inoculation frequently results from touching the vaccination site and transmitting the virus manually, the most common affected sites are the face, eyelid, nose, mouth, genitalia, and rectum. Most cases heal without any specific treatment. Inadvertent inoculation of the eye can lead to comeal scarring and subsequent vision loss. Occasionally, vaccinia immune globulin (VIG) is necessary to treat periocular lesions (26). 

Tipranavir is a protease inhibitor. Tipranavir is a nonpeptide protease inhibitor that prevents formation of mature virions by inhibiting virus-specific processing of the viral Gag and Gag-Pol polyproteins in HIV-1 infected cells. It is indicated in combination with ritonavir 200 mg for the treatment of HIV-1 infected adult patients with evidence of viral replication, who are highly treatment-experienced or have HIV-1 strains resistant to multiple protease inhibitor. 

A diagnosis of acute viral hepatitis type A was made, probably contracted from virus-contaminated food Percy had eaten while on his cruise. His physician explained that there was no specific treatment for type A viral hepatitis but recommended symptomatic and supportive care and prevention of transmission to others by the fecal-oral route. Percy took acetaminophen 3 to 4 times a day for fever and arthralgias throughout his illness. 

As a result of immunosuppression, patients are prone to viral and bacterial infections. This is an increasing problem as hospital admissions for infections nowadays exceed admissions for acute rejection. A problematic virus emerging in the last decade is polyoma BK virus (BKV). BKV-allograft nephropathy affects 2-8% of grafts, leads to early graft loss in 50% of patients, and there is no specific treatment (Acott 2006). Cytomegalovirus... 

The incorporation of C Meucine into a virus-specific protein, the so-called S-antigen of fowl plague virus, in homogenates of chick embryo cells has been investigated by Mueller et al. 37). The activity of the homogenate (which must be prepared from suitably infected fibroblast cells) is partially sensitive to ribonuclease and is somewhat depressed by the omission of ATP and an ATP-generating system. The addition of rather lai e quantities of embryonic nucleic acid is also required, but the activity of the latter is not destroyed by either ribo- or deoxyribonuclease, or by treatment with alkali. 

The viruses are cell parasites they use the cell machinery for replication. Targeting the virus-specific enzymes is an attractive option, and may lead to significant improvement for the treatment of specific viruses. Since obtaining accurate viral diagnosis is difficult and time-consuming, the start of a specific... 

Wengler and Wengler (1972) have shown that increased osmo-larity of the growth medium inhibits the initiation of protein synthesis in vivo. Nuss et at. (1975) have also selectively blocked initiation of host protein synthesis in RNA virus-infected cells. Saborio et al. (1974) found that cellular protein synthesis is reversibly inhibited when cells are exposed to hypertonic medium. However, it has been reported that initiation of virus-specific protein synthesis is more resistant to a hypertonic initiation block (Carrasco and Smith, 1976). Carrasco (1977) also showed that treatment of encephalomyocarditis virus-infected HeLa cells with hypertonic medium stimulated the synthesis of virus-specific proteins and proposed that insertion of viral proteins into the cell membrane altered the ionic conditions within the cell to favor viral protein synthesis. The Carrasco hypothesis has been shown to apply to many cytolytic infections by animal viruses, although there are a few exceptions (Fenwick and Walker, 1978 Gray et al., 1983). 

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