THE EFFICACY OF ORAL RIBAVIRIN IN THE TREATMENT OF 81 PROVED CASES OF CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC FEVER (CCHF) IN IRAN (1999-2001)

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever is a fatal viral disease that occurs in some parts of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle-East. Primarily it is a zoonosis but can be seen sporadically in humans. Recently outbreaks have been reported from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Iran. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the efficacy of oral Ribavirin in the treatment of CCHF cases, by comparing the outcome in two groups of treated and non-treated confirmed CCHF cases. 81 confirmed CCHF cases (by serology or viral culture) were evaluated for the incidence of outcome (death or recovery ) in the form of an analytic case-control study. 61 out of 69 treated cases and 5 out of 12 non-treated cases survived. Oral Ribavirin with an efficacy of 91 % can be an effective medical therapy for management of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever.