title: Treatment of acute Nipah encephalitis with ribavirin.
abstract: Nipah virus, a newly identified paramyxovirus caused a severe outbreak of encephalitis in Malaysia with high fatalities. We report an open-label trial of ribavirin in 140 patients, with 54 patients who were managed prior to the availability of ribavirin or refused treatment as control. There were 45 deaths (32%) in the ribavirin arm; 29 deaths (54%) occurred in the control arm. This represents a 36% reduction in mortality (p = 0.011). There was no associated serious side effect. This study suggests that ribavirin is able to reduce the mortality of acute Nipah encephalitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kamarulzaman
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thayaparan
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kunjapan
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D018098:Paramyxovirinae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016312:Treatment Refusal
chemical_list: D012254:Ribavirin