The drugs of choice for treatment of viral infections (other than HIV) and their dosages are listed in Tables 1-6 on the pages that follow. Some of the indications and dosages recommended here have not been approved by the FDA. Vaccines used for the prevention of viral infections are discussed elsewhere.

The CDC is now recommending that everyone in the US born between 1945 and 1965 be tested for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Telaprevir (Incivek – Vertex) and boceprevir (Victrelis – Merck) have been approved by the FDA for oral use in combination with peginterferon and ribavirin for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection in adults with compensated liver disease. Both telaprevir and boceprevir were developed specifically to inhibit the NS3/4A proteases that cleave HCV encoded polyproteins of the genotype 1 virus.

The drugs of choice for treatment of non-HIV viral infections and their dosages are listed in Tables 1-6 on the pages that follow. Some of the indications and dosages recommended here have not been approved by the FDA. Vaccines used for the prevention of viral infections are discussed in another issue of Treatment Guidelines.

The drugs of choice for treatment of non-HIV viral infections with their dosages and cost are listed in Tables 1-6. Some of the indications and dosages recommended here have not been approved by the FDA. Vaccines used in the prevention of viral infections are discussed in the "Adult Immunization" issue of Treatment Guidelines.

The drugs of choice for non-HIV viral infections with their dosages and cost are listed in the tables that begin on page 24. Some of the indications and dosages recommended here have not been approved by the FDA.

The FDA has approved recombinant interferon alfa-2a conjugated to polyethylene glycol (Pegasys - Roche) alone or with oral ribavirin (Copegus - Roche) for treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections not previously treated with interferon alpha. The standard of care for treatment of most patients with hepatitis C has been once-weekly injections of peginterferon alfa-2b (PEG-Intron -Schering) plus oral ribavirin (Rebetol - Schering) (Medical Letter 2001; 43:54).

The single sentence on vaccination site care in our recent article on Smallpox Vaccination (Vol. 45, page 2) needs clarification. In the past, the vaccination site was generally left uncovered, but current plans for Phase I call for it to be covered with both gauze to absorb liquid and a semipermeable membrane such as an Opsite dressing to prevent spread of the virus. This correction has been made in the web version of the issue.

Because of concerns about the possibility of bioterrorism involving smallpox, the US government is reinstituting smallpox vaccination (https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/; www.idsociety.org/bt/toc.htm). Vaccination is currently expected to proceed in three phases: the military and hospital smallpox response teams first, other health care workers, police and firefighters second, and the general public in the third phase. Except for the military, vaccination will be voluntary.

The drugs of choice for non-HIV viral infections with their dosages and cost are listed in the table that begins on the next page. Since the last Medical Letter issue on this subject, some new drugs and some new recommendations for old drugs have been added.