8^th Clinical Microbiology Conference

After first evidence that nucleosides such as idoxuridine may also be useful to treat herpes disease in the 1950, research in the field was intensified. The milestone publication of acyclovir in 1978 subsequently leads to a new era of DNA polymerase inhibitors to treat herpes infections. For the underlying strategy of anti-metabolite research, the noble price was awarded to Gertrude Elion in 1988. Since the eighties the prodrug acyclovir became the gold standard to treat herpes infections, predominantly HSV and VZV. In the nineties the pre-prodrugs of acyclovir and penciclovir, a close congener of ACV, named valacyclovir and famciclovir with a more convenient dosing schedule were launched. These anti-herpes nucleosidic drugs are virostatic but they do not cure the key clinical issue of herpes infections which is recurrent disease. In 2002, helicase primase inhibitors of HSV and VZV that are two orders of magnitude more potent than acyclovir in vitro and at least 10 times more efficacious in vivo were published and subsequently developed. Published animal models and current clinical trials indicate that the frequency of recurrent herpes disease can be reduced.