Table 2.

Traditional antiviral drugs approved for the treatment of HCMV acute infections.

Drug	Structure	Mechanism	Main Side Effects
Ganciclovir	A synthetic analogue of 2′-deoxy-guanosine	Viral UL54 DNA polymerase inhibitor	A potential carcinogen, granulocytopenia, neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia
Valganciclovir	L-valyl ester of ganciclovir	Viral UL54 DNA polymerase inhibitor	A potential carcinogen, granulocytopenia, neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia
Cidofovir	A monophosphate nucleotide analogue	Viral UL54 DNA polymerase inhibitor	Nephrotoxicity, neutropenia, nausea, uveitis, iritis, asthenia, alopecia, ocular hypotony
Foscarnet	Pyrophosphate analogue, a structural mimic of the anion pyrophosphate	Inhibitor of the pyrophosphate- binding site on viral DNA polymerase (or reverse transcriptase); Noncompetitive inhibitor of many RNA and UL54 DNA polymerase	Nephrotoxicity, electrolyte disturbance, genital ulceration, paranesthesia, irritability, hallucination