This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD; Richard A. Jacobs, MD; Richard M. Locksley, MD
University of California San Francisco

JAMA. 1989;261(13):1880-1881.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor. —

We would like to report the experience at the University of California, San Francisco, with aerosolized ribavirin. Ribavirin is a virostatic agent approved for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants who do not require mechanical ventilation. While the drug currently is not approved for use in intubated patients, it has been administered via this route. However, considering the tendencies of the drug to crystallize in respiratory equipment, special care must be taken to ensure patency of the airway in these patients.¹

Morbidity and mortality secondary to RSV primarily occurs in premature infants and in those with underlying cardiopulmonary abnormalities.² The early trials with ribavirin suggest subjective improvement in severity of illness. Some studies report improved arterial oxygen tension and a decrease in viral shedding in patients who receive ribavirin.³ The drug has not been found to alter the mortality associated . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?