Viral Infections: Both Prevention and Treatment

The immune system tries to eliminate the virus particles and remove them from the body anytime the human body is exposed to viral particles. Human cells are vulnerable to viruses. The virus can easily attach itself to the accessible cells when the immune system is compromised, which frequently causes general symptoms like chills and fever (Evans, 2013). Additionally, it makes it easier for the virus to replicate, which advances the symptoms until the immune system can get rid of them. The prevention and treatment of viral infections are covered in this essay. Although there are few effective antiviral drugs utilized to treat different viral infections, the main technique of controlling viral disease is through vaccination. The vaccinations avert viruses from spreading through building the immunity to the virus. The vaccines differ in their effectiveness and the number of doses needed to confer the protection. Vaccines can minimize the risk of acquisition of certain viral illnesses. They assist to safeguard against chickenpox, flu, polio, hepatitis, rabies and other viruses. The vaccine is given to boost the immunity with no addition of more illness-causing virus (Rappuoli et al., 2014). The vaccinated individuals produce the antibodies that have the ability to neutralize the disease causing virus.
An active immunization entails administering the virus preparation which stimulates the immune system of the body to generate its own particular immunity. The viral vaccines currently accessible for utilization comprise the attenuated live viruses and killed viruses. The attenuated viruses can infect and reproduce in the recipient and generate a defensive immune response with no causing illness. A live attenuated viral vaccine can frequently confer lasting immunity following one immunization sequence. The killed viral vaccine can contain either entire virus particles that are inactivated by physical or chemical means or certain constituents of the virus. The fully inactivated viral vaccine cannot cause the infection (Sterling, 2016).
Use of Antiviral Drugs to Treat Viral Infections
Antiviral drugs are utilized to treat viral infections. They frequently have some degree of success in curing the viral disease nonetheless in numerous cases they have been utilized to control and minimize the symptoms for a broad array of viral diseases (Notkins, 2014). For numerous viruses, the antiviral drugs can in cause virus inhibition through blocking the activities of at least one of its proteins. It is essential that the targeted proteins should be encoded by the viral genes and the molecules do not exist in a healthy host cell. Consequently, the growth of the virus is inhibited with no damage to the host (De Clercq & Li, 2016).
Numerous antiviral drugs are accessible for treating infections. Some of the antiviral drugs treat specific virus while other antiviral drugs affect manifold viruses. For instance, the acyclovir can be used in treating genital herpes since it can decrease the number and period of episodes of the active viral disease throughout which the patients develop the viral lesions within the cells of their skin. The drug is not curative as the virus remains dormant within the nervous tissue of the body for life nevertheless it makes the symptoms of the infection to be more manageable (De Clercq & Li, 2016). Drugs, for example, Tamiflu can be used to treat influenza by reducing the duration of the symptoms of the flu by between one and two days. However, it does not avert the symptoms completely. Tamiflu functions by inhibiting the enzyme that permits fresh virions to disappear from their infected cells. Therefore, the Tamiflu restrains the virus spread from the infected to the non-infected cells. Moreover, the antiviral drug, for instance, the Ribavirin has been utilized to treat a range of viral infections (De Clercq & Li, 2016).
Conclusion
The minor illnesses that are caused by the viral infections normally merely need symptomatic treatment whereas the more severe conditions can necessitate more advanced medical treatment and occasionally even lasting treatment. There is the necessity to combine the treatment alternatives, for example, complementary therapy, conventional medicine, and ordinary medicine can assist to fight down viral infection, manage its symptoms and fortify the immune reaction. There is the need to utilize the freshly developed vaccines that have the ability to boost immune response so that the affected individuals can control the virus effectively.













References
De Clercq, E., & Li, G. (2016). Approved antiviral drugs over the past 50 years. Clinical microbiology reviews, 29(3), 695-747.
Evans, A. S. (2013). Viral infections of humans: epidemiology and control. Springer Science & Business Media.
Notkins, A. L. (Ed.). (2014). Viral immunology and immunopathology. Academic Press.
Rappuoli, R., Pizza, M., Del Giudice, G., & De Gregorio, E. (2014). Vaccines, new opportunities for a new society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(34), 12288-12293.
Sterling, J. C. (2016). Viral infections. Rook's textbook of dermatology.