The Post Exposure Prophylactic Measures Against Viral BTW Agents

Abstract

Viruses do not have their own energy supplying and structural-components synthesizing systems. That is the main difference between viruses and such pathogens as bacteria and rickettsia. Therefore they have to use intracellular structures and enzymes for their replication, so the critical stage of their reproduction is the stage at which they penetrate the cell. Once they have entered the cell viruses do not leave it until multiplying and fully maturating after which they can infect hundreds or even thousands of new cells. Bacteria do not really need cellular structures for their replication because their main requirements are energy sources and elementary structural components, such as amino acids, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, fatty acids or their components. The main, if not the only, way to defeat a virus is to attack it before it enters the living cell, whereas bacteria may be attacked throughout their life cycle taking place in a macroorganism. The time interval before a virus enters the eucaryotic cell or attacks the critical organ is sometimes prolonged. This allows the use of drugs or preparations for diminishing the symptoms or even for preventing the disease itself. One striking example has recently been sent for publication by researchers of our Center. The manuscript describes the preparation and use of hyperimmune serum for prophylaxis and therapy of Ebola virus infection [21]. In this chapter I would like to present some results from this publication, together with other data about preparations for post exposure prophylaxis of viral infections.