© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
EDITORIAL
Treatment of SARS
Antiviral agents and corticosteroids in the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
1 Department of Medicine & Geriatrics, Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
2 Faculty of Medicine & Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
3 Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr W C Yu
Department of Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital, Lai King, Hong Kong SAR, China; yuwc@ha.org.hk
Systematic evaluation of treatment modalities for SARS is still needed
Keywords: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS); ribavirin; antiviral agents; corticosteroids
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) of 2003 caught the medical profession by surprise. The accumulated global total number of cases was 8098 with 774 deaths, a case-fatality ratio of 9.6%.1 Although the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was discovered within weeks,2 treatment was inevitably empirical as controlled clinical trials were not possible during the epidemic of this new and serious illness. Many antiviral and immunomodulatory drugs, as well as other treatments such as convalescent patient plasma and traditional Chinese medicines, have been tried. Ribavirin and corticosteroids are by far the most widely used treatments for SARS. In the later phase of the epidemic lopinavir and ritonavir in combination were also used in Hong Kong.
Ribavirin is used extensively for the treatment of SARS and was given to over 90% of patients in Hong Kong. It is a nucleoside analogue that has activity against a number of
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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Sheth, A., Romanelli, F.
(2005). Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome: Emergence of a New Pandemic. Journal of Pharmacy Practice
18: 63-70
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