Treatment of viral infections during pregnancy and the neonatal period

Over the past 15 years, successful antiviral therapy of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection has emerged with safe therapeutics. Despite the major impact of acyclovir on the severity of HSV infection, morbidity and mortality from neonatal herpes exist. The development of therapeutics that impact on the natural history of HIV and AIDS just now are being realized, nearly a decade after the first beneficial effects of therapy were reported. Early investigations of antiviral agents in pregnant women and children must occur more promptly as the field of antiviral therapy advances. Improved therapeutics are likely to emerge over the next decade for both pregnant women and their offspring.