How to choose antiviral drug? (The selection criteria of the antiviral drug)

Dear colleagues!
Antiviral drugs can be and should be chosen!

Antiviral drugs belong to different groups of chemical compounds. They have an excellent mode of action, there are various classifications of medications with antiviral activity.

A number of important requirements is identified to the antiviral drugs, which are used for treatment. (F. I. Ershov, O. I. Kiselev and others., 1999):

• inhibited unique to each virus stage of metabolism;
• turned into its active stage only in the infected cell;
• was not included into the composition of human DNA in normal cells;
• had no toxicity to uninfected cells of the body;
• quickly reached the infected cells and stayed there in the active form for a long time;
• was involved from the body in unmodified condition (or formed non-toxic metabolites);
• had a convenient dosing schedule (1-2 times per day);
• was safe at short-term use (especially in treatment of herpes zoster of the elderly, pregnant and newborns, children with chickenpox), as well as during the long-term suppressive therapy (prevention of genital herpes, treatment and prevention of cytomegalovirus infection (CMVI) at patients with reduced immune status).