The New England journal of medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A controlled trial of aerosolized ribavirin in infants receiving mechanical ventilation for severe respiratory syncytial virus infection.
Although the antiviral agent ribavirin improves the course of lower respiratory tract disease in spontaneously breathing infants with respiratory syncytial virus infection, it is not known whether ribavirin can benefit infants with severe respiratory syncytial virus disease who require mechanical ventilation. ⋯ In infants who require mechanical ventilation because of severe respiratory syncytial virus infection, treatment with aerosolized ribavirin decreases the duration of mechanical ventilation, oxygen treatment, and the hospital stay.
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A nosocomial outbreak of fulminant hepatitis B occurred in five patients in Haifa, Israel. Previous investigations identified the suspected source as a carrier of hepatitis B surface antigen who was positive for antibodies to hepatitis B e antigen and had chronic liver disease. We examined the strain of hepatitis B virus (HBV) that caused this epidemic, in order to identify specific mutations in the precore or core region. ⋯ In the outbreak we studied, a mutant hepatitis B viral strain was transmitted from a common source to five patients who subsequently died of fulminant hepatitis B infection. Naturally occurring viral mutations hepatitis B infection. Naturally occurring viral mutations in the HBV genome may predispose the infected host to more severe liver injury.
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Comment Letter Case Reports
Acquired abnormalities of platelet function.