Antivirus merupakan salah satu penggolongan obat yang secara spesifik digunakan untuk mengobati infeksi virus.[1] Sama seperti antibiotik dan antibiotik spektrum luas untuk bakteri, kebanyakan antivirus digunakan untuk infeksi virus yang spesifik, sementara antivirus spektrumluas dapat efektif melawan berbagai macam virus.[2] Tetapi, tidak seperti sebagian besar antibiotik, antivirus tidak dapat membunuh virus dan hanya menghambat virus untuk masuk ke dalam sel atau bereplikasi.
Obat antivirus, antibiotik, antijamur, dan antiparasit termasuk golongan antimikroba,[3] termasuk obat antivirus yang berupa antibodi monoklonal.[4] Sebagian besar antivirus relatif tidak berbahaya bagi pasien, karena itu dapat digunakan untuk mengobatiinfeksi. Antivirus berbeda dengan virisida, yang merupakan suatu molekul yang dapat menghancurkan virus. Beberapa tumbuhan menghasilkan senyawa virisida alami seperti pada eukaliptus.[5]
^Rossignol JF (2014). "Nitazoxanide: a first-in-class broad-spectrum antiviral agent". Antiviral Res. 110: 94–103. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2014.07.014. PMID25108173. Originally developed and commercialized as an antiprotozoal agent, nitazoxanide was later identified as a first-in-class broad-spectrum antiviral drug and has been repurposed for the treatment of influenza. ... From a chemical perspective, nitazoxanide is the scaffold for a new class of drugs called thiazolides. These small-molecule drugs target host-regulated processes involved in viral replication. ... A new dosage formulation of nitazoxanide is presently undergoing global Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of influenza. Nitazoxanide inhibits a broad range of influenza A and B viruses including influenza A(pH1N1) and the avian A(H7N9) as well as viruses that are resistant to neuraminidase inhibitors. ... Nitazoxanide also inhibits the replication of a broad range of other RNA and DNA viruses including respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza, coronavirus, rotavirus, norovirus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis virus and human immunodeficiency virus in cell culture assays. Clinical trials have indicated a potential role for thiazolides in treating rotavirus and norovirus gastroenteritis and chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C. Ongoing and future clinical development is focused on viral respiratory infections, viral gastroenteritis and emerging infections such as dengue fever.
^Schnitzler, P; Schön, K; Reichling, J (2001). "Antiviral activity of Australian tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil against herpes simplex virus in cell culture". Die Pharmazie. 56 (4): 343–7. PMID11338678.