Long Term Treatment with Antiviral Drugs in Psychotic Patients

Eighteen psychotic patients meeting the DSM-IIIR criteria for schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis were treated with antiviral drugs-aciclovir and interferon or aciclovir aloneplus the conventional treatment for more than eight months. Before treatment was begun, a biological test (BT) was performed on blood and cerebrospinal fluid, using immunoelectromicroscopic techniques, and the test was repeated eight months later. The results obtained by comparing their evolution before and after the antiviral treatment was begun show a significant favorable outcome in 89 percent of the patients treated. This is related to a modification in the BT, with a decrease in the presence of particles that reacts to the herpes simplex hominis type I virus (HSV-1) antibody or with an increase in those patients who had a relapse.