Treatment of acute Nipah encephalitis with ribavirin.

Chong, H T; Kamarulzaman, A; Tan, C T; Goh, K J; Thayaparan, T; Kunjapan, S R; Chew, N K; Chua, K B et al. · Ann Neurol · 2001

prospective_cohort · Level II

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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.

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