[Action of acyclovir on cytomegalovirus in tissue culture and in chronic infection in women].

Acyclovir was capable to delay for some time the development of the cytopathic effect in cell cultures. When acyclovir was added to the infected tube cultures in a concentration of 250 micrograms/ml, virus reproduction was inhibited for 6 days. Then foci of lesions were observed, and by the 12-13th days the intensity of involvement of the cell layer was 80-90% and did not differ from that in control tubes infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV). No significant differences were observed in the inhibiting effect of acyclovir on the freshly isolated strains or the reference Ad-169 strain. A course of therapy with acyclovir showed the inhibiting effect of this drug on CMV reproduction in women with the CMV infection to be of short duration. The temporary improvement observed on the first day after treatment was accompanied by reduced virus excretion with both the urine and saliva. Antibody titres remained the same before and after treatment. After 1-2 months virus excretion was observed practically in all the women similarly to that before the treatment.