A Controlled Trial of Aerosolized Ribavirin in Infants Receiving Mechanical Ventilation for Severe Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 325; no. 1; pp. 24 - 29
• Main Authors: Smith, David W, Frankel, Lorry R, Mathers, Larry H, Tang, Allen T.S, Ariagno, Ronald L, Prober, Charles G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 04.07.1991
• Subjects: Aerosols; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antiviral agents; Babies; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon Dioxide - blood; Double-Blind Method; Double-blind studies; FDA approval; Female; Hospitalization - economics; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infections; Infectious diseases; Intensive care; Length of Stay; Lung diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Oxygen - blood; Partial Pressure; Patients; Pediatrics; Pharmacists; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Respiration, Artificial; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory distress syndrome; Respiratory failure; Respiratory syncytial virus; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses; Respiratory therapy; Respirovirus Infections - drug therapy; Respirovirus Infections - therapy; Ribavirin - administration & dosage; Ribavirin - therapeutic use; Statistical methods; Ventilation; Ventilators; Ventilators, Mechanical; Viruses; Human; Respiratory disease; Infant; Artificial ventilation; Paramyxoviridae; Virus; Infection; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Respiratory syncytial virus; Aerosols; Antiviral; Pneumovirus; Resuscitation
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199107043250105

RESPIRATORY syncytial virus is the most important respiratory pathogen causing lower respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. Ribavirin (1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide) is a synthetic nucleoside with inhibitory activity against a variety of viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus. 1 2 3 The Food and Drug Administration approved the licensure of aerosolized ribavirin for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus infection in December 1986. Approval was limited to use in infants who were breathing spontaneously and was based on the beneficial effect demonstrated in three controlled clinical trials. 4 5 6 Two of these trials involved previously normal infants, and one involved infants with underlying diseases known to . . .