Virus dynamics and drug therapy

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.94.13.6971
• Publication Date: 2002-07-26T14:35:50Z
• Authors: Sebastian Bonhoeffer; Robert M. May; George M. Shaw; Martin A. Nowak
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Animals; Humans; Models, Theoretical; Virus Replication; Models, Biological; Virus Physiological Phenomena; 3. Good health

The recent development of potent antiviral drugs not only has raised hopes for effective treatment of infections with HIV or the hepatitis B virus, but also has led to important quantitative insights into viral dynamicsin vivo. Interpretation of the experimental data depends upon mathematical models that describe the nonlinear interaction between virus and host cell populations. Here we discuss the emerging understanding of virus population dynamics, the role of the immune system in limiting virus abundance, the dynamics of viral drug resistance, and the question of whether virus infection can be eliminated from individual patients by drug treatment.