Methods of treating viral infections

#The present invention relates to the use of strains of Parapoxvirus ovis as immunotherapeutic agents for immunodeficiencies of an infectious or non-infectious nature, and to the use of strains of Parapoxvirus ovis for treating tumour diseases and viral infections and diseases which accompany such infections, and the use of strains of Parapoxvirus ovis for producing medicaments for use in humans and animals.

#The present invention furthermore relates to the use of strains of Parapoxvirus ovis, and of medicinal forms prepared therefrom, as immunotherapeutic agents or immunoprophylactic agents in stress metaphylaxis for preventing or averting infectious diseases following stress (e.g. operations); to their use in infection prophylaxis, for preventing or averting infectious diseases by means of administration prior to operations or interventions (e.g. before implantation of prostheses or before dental interventions), to their use in infection metaphylaxis or the therapy of acute or chronic viral infections, for example of the respiratory tract, of papilloma virus infections, of infection with herpesviruses, of HIV infection, and of viral infection of internal organs such as infection with hepatitis viruses, to their use in wound healing, in order to accelerate wound healing processes, and to their use for supporting the healing of wounds which only heal poorly or do not heal at all (e.g. ulcer of the leg), to their use for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, asthma, warts and other neoformations of the skin, to their use for diseases of the spectrum of allergic diseases, to their use for preventing the onset of systemic allergies, and to their use for topical allergies and to their use for improving wellbeing, for example in elderly patients, with the strains of Parapoxvirus ovis which are used within the context of the invention being the strains NZ2, NZ-7, NZ-10 and orf-11.

#It is also possible to use descendants of these strains which have been obtained by passaging and/or adaptation to particular cells, for example WI-38, MRC-5 or Vero cells, or parts or fragments of viruses from these strains or of these descendants. Parts are to be understood as meaning genomic or subgenomic fragments which are expressed with the aid of suitable vectors, for example vaccinia, in suitable systems, for example fibroblast cell cultures. Fragments are understood as being the fractions, which are obtained by biochemical purification, for example by means of chromatography, of particles which have been physically disrupted, for example by means of ultrasonication.

#The following has been discovered by way of example:

#1. Demonstration of Therapeutic Activity in Hepatitis B Virus—Transgenic Mice

#Hepatitis B virus-transgenic mice (strain HBV 1.3×−tg) were used for the “proof-of-concept” experiment. 7 male animals, of from 8 to 10 weeks of age, were used per group. The various doses were administered intraperitoneally in a volume of 0.15 ml on day 1 (beginning of experiment) and on day 4.