Committee on Infectious Diseases: Use of Ribavirin in the Treatment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

Summary

Ribavirin is an antiviral drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1986 for aerosol treatment of serious respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in hospitalized children. Ribavirin has a broad spectrum of antiviral activity in vitro, where it inhibits replication of RSV, influenza, parainfluenza, adenovirus, measles, Lassa fever, and Hantaan viruses. Proof of efficacy for human infection has been obtained in double-blind placebo-controlled studies of RSV, Lassa fever, and Korean hemorrhagic fever. Presently, only anecdotal reports support the efficacy of this drug for treatment of measles or parainfluenza.