Vidarabine (pronounced
vye DARE a been) is also known as
adenine arabinoside and under the trade name Vira-A. It is an anti
viral drug that is useful in treating infections caused by the
herpes zoster-varicella and the herpes simplex viruses. It has also been effective in treating
inflammation of the
brain (
encephalitis) caused by herpes simplex infection, though it isn't as effective as
acyclovir. It is often used in the form of a
petrolatum-based ointment for viral
eye infections.
Vidarabine's empirical formula is C10H13H5O4•H2O and its molecular weight is 285.26.
Some or all of the information in this writeup was taken from the science dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/; I oversaw the development of the dictionary (the website was mothballed in 1998) and believe I wrote the entry this writeup is partly or wholly based upon.