2018/07/24 by Önder Ergönül, Şiran Keske, Melis G. Celdir +5 · 50 citations
Medicine · #Viral Infections and Vectors #Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research #Mosquito-borne diseases and control #Ribavirin #Medicine #Odds ratio #Internal medicine #Odds #Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever #Virus #Virology #Immunology #Intensive care medicine #Disease #Logistic regression
paper · doi:10.3201/eid2409.171709
published in Emerging infectious diseases 24(9), 1642-1648 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
openalex publication_date 2018/07/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of ribavirin use for the prevention of infection and death of healthcare workers exposed to patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) infection. Splashes with blood or bodily fluids (odds ratio [OR] 4.2), being a nurse or physician (OR 2.1), and treating patients who died from CCHFV infection (OR 3.8) were associated with healthcare workers acquiring CCHFV infection; 7% of the workers who received postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) with ribavirin and 89% of those who did not became infected. PEP with ribavirin reduced the odds of infection (OR 0.01, 95% CI 0-0.03), and ribavirin use <48 hours after symptom onset reduced the odds of death (OR 0.03, 95% CI 0-0.58). The odds of death increased 2.4-fold every day without ribavirin treatment. Ribavirin should be recommended as PEP and early treatment for workers at medium-to-high risk for CCHFV infection.