A vertical mother-progeny transmission route of human herpesviruses has been discovered that allows developing an animal model that is useful for identifying compounds that are potentially useful in treating and/or preventing infections and diseases caused by human herpesviruses. The method for identifying such compounds comprises experimentally infecting a non-human female animal with human herpesviruses, before or after administering the compound to be tested, crossbreeding her with a male of the same species and analyzing the presence of human herpesviruses in the progeny and/or determining the effect of said compound on the progeny or the mother. Alternatively, the compounds to be tested can be administered to the descendants carrying human herpesviruses instead of the mother and the effect on such animals is analyzed.