Effect of discontinuous acyclovir treatment on in vitro reactivation of herpes simplex virus from latently infected trigeminal ganglia.

Exposing explant cultures of latently infected mouse trigeminal ganglia alternately to acyclovir-containing and drug-free medium led to a significant decrease in the proportion of ganglia containing reactivatable herpes simplex virus. The loss of virus from the explant cultures was not caused by thermal inactivation during prolonged incubation periods. The efficiency of virus elimination may depend on the frequency and duration of the alternating treatment and on the number of latently infected neurons in the ganglia.