Respiratory syncytial virus in hematopoietic cell transplant recipients and patients with hematologic malignancies

Khawaja, Fareed; Chemaly, Roy F.

Data on the use of ribavirin in HM patients with RSV infections are limited. Several retrospective studies demonstrated that early use of aerosolized ribavirin reduced the mortality rate in leukemia patients with RSV infections. 57, 58 A large retrospective study of 181 HM patients showed better outcomes with aerosolized ribavirin. 37 On the other hand, Vakil et al. found that ribavirin use, at either the URTI or LRTI stage, did not reduce overall mortality, 38 but the objective of this study was to assess risk factors for mortality and not the role of ribavirin in HM patients. Although some of these studies showed a positive trend towards a benefit from therapy with ribavirin, specific recommendations cannot be made at present.