Abstract

One of the characteristics of many good therapeutic agents is that they often turn out to have uses much more extensive than the one for which they were originally introduced. Propranolol introduced as a blocking agent for beta- adrenoreceptors, was found to he effective in lowering blood pressure, in some forms of headache, and even in schizophrenia. Penicillamine, introduced as a copper-chelating agent for the very limited indication of Wilson's disease, proved to he a major development in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Lithium is no exception to this rule. Developed by Cade as a treatment for mania, it has found a number of other applications, including the maintenance of white cell counts in patients being treated by chemotherapy for malignant disease. One of the most interesting of these new uses is the treatment of herpes virus infections. It is rather generally agreed by informed individuals that the idea of treating herpes infections by eliminating the latent virus is currently unrealistic and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The best that can be achieved is likely to be some form of stimulation of the host's defense system so that the latent virus is prevented from emerging periodically to cause clinically detectable infections. There is some evidence that this can be achieved by an appropriate form of vaccination. Skinner, at Birmingham University in England, has developed a vaccine that he has been testing in humans for a period of 3 years with very considerable. Pending success in controlling the emergence of virus using a vaccine, the next best thing would be to achieve rapid and efficient control of the local HSV infections when they do occur. There is evidence that lithium may be able both to enhance the long-term defense systems of the body and to provide efficient local control of herpes attacks.