Treatment of acute Nipah encephalitis with ribavirin.
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.
Chong
H T
HT
Department of Medicine, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Kamarulzaman
A
A
Tan
C T
CT
Goh
K J
KJ
Thayaparan
T
T
Kunjapan
S R
SR
Chew
N K
NK
Chua
K B
KB
Lam
S K
SK
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
D012254:Ribavirin