A Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Approach for Dosing Valacyclovir Against Equine Herpesvirus Type 1 Infections

n veterinary medicine, vaccination is the most designated weapon in the battle against viral infections. Antiviral drugs are of interest in the inhibition of viral replication and clinical signs and are currently a topic of increased interest in veterinary medicine.
Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1) may result in several clinical syndromes in horses. The respiratory disease is usually silent (Foote et al., 2006), but a new sporadic form of EHV1 results in respiratory distress and possibly, death of the affected horses (Del Piero and Wilkins, 2001). EHV1 is also the most important cause of infectious abortion worldwide and infection late in gestation may result in neonatal foal disease. EHV1 also causes important emotional and economic losses due to nervous system disorders. Acyclovir has already been used during outbreaks of nervous system disorders (Friday et al., 2000) and for the treatment of neonatal EHV1 infections (Murray et al., 1998). However, the therapeutic benefit is difficult to evaluate since no untreated control animals were included. […]