Ribavirin prophylaxis and therapy for experimental argentine hemorrhagic fever.

Abstract

Junin virus-infected rhesus macaques received prophylactic and therapeutic ribavirin to assess the potential of this drug for treating humans with Argentine hemorrhagic fever. When ribavirin was administered intramuscularly at the time of experimental infection with the lethal P3790 strain of Junin virus, all animals were protected from clinical disease. A delay in the initiation of therapy until after the onset of illness resulted in improvement and resolution of systemic signs of disease; however, survivors subsequently developed a late-onset central nervous system infection which was fatal in two of three animals. Side effects of ribavirin included thrombocytosis and severe anemia, both of which resolved promptly on withdrawal of drug therapy. Results of this study suggest that ribavirin may prove useful in treating humans with Argentine hemorrhagic fever.

• Authors: K T McKee Jr, J W Huggins, C J Trahan, B G Mahlandt
• Journal: Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy (Antimicrob Agents Chemother) Vol. 32 Issue 9 Pg. 1304-9 (Sep 1988) ISSN: 0066-4804 [Print] United States
• PMID: 2848441 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Ribonucleosides
• Ribavirin

Topics

• Animals
• Arenaviruses, New World (isolation & purification)
• Hematologic Tests
• Hemorrhagic Fever, American (drug therapy, prevention & control)
• Macaca mulatta
• Ribavirin (therapeutic use)
• Ribonucleosides (therapeutic use)