ABSTRACT
Although viral infections are encountered frequently in clinical practice, the antiviral armamentarium has been limited when compared with other pharmaceutical categories. Many of the currently available antiviral agents were developed within the last two decades. Ongoing research is producing new compounds at a faster rate than ever before. One challenge has been the difficulty of recognizing and diagnosing viral diseases; even as our diagnostic capabilities improve, it is common for a specific viral diagnosis to be confirmed only after the infection has either run its course or caused irreversible damage. Because viruses are intracellular parasites that are dependent on the host's cellular machinery to reproduce, another challenge has been to target the pathogens without causing cellular toxicity.
