BACKGROUND Without effective antiviral prophylaxis, cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease is a common cause of morbidity and mortality after liver transplantation. In this randomized, controlled trial, we compared the efficacy and safety of oral ganciclovir with oral acyclovir after induction with intravenous (IV) ganciclovir for long-term prophylaxis of CMV disease in CMV-seropositive liver transplant...

Cytomegalovirus disease is an important cause of morbidity following liver transplantation. To date there has not been an effective prophylaxis for CMV disease after liver transplantation. One hundred forty-three patients were randomized to receive either high dose oral acyclovir (800 mg 4 times a day) alone for 3 months after transplantation (acyclovir group) or intravenous ganciclovir (5 mg/k...

Ganciclovir susceptibilities and UL97 sequences were analyzed in 20 cytomegalovirus (CMV) isolates recovered from 15 bone marrow transplant recipients with active CMV infection after prophylaxis with acyclovir (group I; 12 isolates) or after acyclovir prophylaxis followed by ganciclovir therapy (group II; 8 isolates). All group I isolates were susceptible to ganciclovir. Five group II isolates ...

This study sought to determine whether high-dose acyclovir improves posttransplant survival in cytomegalovirus (CMV)-seropositive patients when ganciclovir is given for prophylaxis or as early therapy. Three groups were studied: Group 1 (n = 112) received ganciclovir from engraftment without prior acyclovir treatment, group 2 (n = 114) was given ganciclovir for CMV pp65 antigenemia without prio...

Herpesviruses are a commonvirus infecting man. Twodrugs have shown clinical efficacyin the treatment of herpesvirus infections, acyclovir and ganciclovir. Acyclovir has excellent antiviral activity against herpes simplex types 1 and 21}; ganciclovir is potent against human cytomegalovirus2). Both drugs are nucleoside analogs and are metabolized to their respective triphosphates which then block...

Study sample There were 22 patients in the acyclovir group compared with 33 in the ganciclovir group. The mean age of patients in both groups was 40 years of age and 32% of patients were female in the acyclovir group compared with 48% of the ganciclovir group. Similarly 27% and 35% of patients in the two groups respectively received PA transplants. Power calculations were not used to determine ...

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) thymidine kinase is currently used as a suicide agent in the gene therapy of cancer. This therapy is based on the preferential phosphorylation of nucleoside analogs by tumor cells expressing HSV-1 thymidine kinase. However, the use of HSV-1 thymidine kinase is limited in part by the toxicity of the nucleoside analogs. We have used random sequence mutagenesis ...

Acyclovir or similar agents with activity against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) theoretically may prevent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in AIDS. A case-control study of 29 patients with AIDS-related NHL and 58 matched control subjects assessed the frequency with which daily acyclovir (>/=800 mg/d) or similar agents were used for > or =1 year. In a historical cohort of 304 patients with AIDS for > or ...

PURPOSE To describe a case of progressive outer retinal necrosis syndrome, successfully treated with a new combination of antiviral drugs. METHODS The patient was treated with a combined therapy of antiviral drugs that includes: intravenous acyclovir 10 mg/kg, three intravitreal injections of foscarnet (1200 microg) and a ganciclovir implant in the right eye. RESULTS The progressive outer r...

Foscarnet is widely used for the treatment of acyclovir-resistant herpesvirus infections, and foscarnet-resistant herpesvirus infections are a serious concern in immunocompromised patients. Twenty-seven single-plaque isolates of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) resistant to foscarnet were selected from foscarnet- and acyclovir-sensitive HSV-1 strain TAS by exposure to foscarnet, and the DNA ...