Assessment of acyclovir on acute ocular infection induced by drug-resistant strains of HSV-1.

Effects of topical acyclovir treatment on rabbit eyes infected with parent McKrae, idoxuridine-resistant, and vidarabine-resistant strains of HSV-1 were studied. Topical acyclovir therapy given four times a day was significantly more effective than idoxuridine and vidarabine at suppressing acute herpetic ocular disease induced by either sensitive or drug-resistant strains of HSV-1. Virus isolation from neural tissues indicated that none of the therapy prevented viral infection of the nervous system.