Latent herpes simplex virus infections in sensory ganglia of hairless mice prevented by acycloguanosine.

Acycloguanosine (ACG) was able to prevent the fatal outcome of herpes simplex virus-induced skin infections of the lumbosacral or orofacila area in hairless mice. Topical ACG treatment was more effective than systemic treatment in preventing the evolution of skin lesions. Acute ganglionic infections in the trigeminal ganglia were prevented by ACG, and latent ganglionic infections did not become established when the ACG treatment was initiated 3 h after infection. Serum antibody titers were, on the average, eight times higher in mice which developed latent ganglionic infections after ACG treatment than in mice without evidence of herpes simplex virus latency in ganglia. Reinoculation of ACG-treated mice at a site different from that of the primary inoculation did not lead to the establishment of a second latent infection with the homologous virus type when a latent infection was already present. In mice without evidence of latent infection after the primary inoculation, a latent infection at the site of reinoculation became established in 25% of the animals.