Efficacy of (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine in the treatment of experimental herpes simplex virus encephalitis in mice.
Systemic treatment of mice with (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BVDU) showed a significant therapeutic efficacy against herpes simplex type 1 virus (HSV-1) encephalitis. With treatment initiated 12 h after viral inoculation and continued for 10 consecutive days, BVDU administered intraperitoneally in daily doses of 100-500 mg/kg increased the 21-day survival rates from 30 to 100% and reduced brain virus titers by 3-4 log10 on day 6 post-infection. Furthermore, at doses of 300-500 mg/kg per day BVDU prevented the establishment of latent virus infection in the trigeminal ganglia following intracerebral HSV-1 inoculation.