Experimental infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 in newborn rats: Effects of treatment with iododeoxyuridine and cytosine arabinoside.

Sprague-Dawley rats were inoculated, within 36 hr of birth, with either of two strains of herpes simplex virus type 2. The effects of treatment for five days with either 5-iododeoxyuridine or cytosine arabinoside in near toxic doses were studied. Evaluation of treatment based on rate of survival, incidence of lesions, and isolation of virus from the central nervous system showed no appreciable difference between treated and untreated littermates. Drug-related effects of retardation of growth and defective development of the cerebellum and retina were found. The validity of therapy with either of these drugs in generalized herpetic infections is questioned because activity was minimal against the infecting agent even when the dosage of the drug was sufficient to produce serious defects in certain developing tissues.