When a child has a cold, fever, cough, pneumonia, hand, foot and mouth disease, or even intussusception, many doctors will prescribe a drug called ribavirin, which makes some mothers Very puzzled: Is ribavirin a magic medicine that cures all diseases?
On the contrary, ribavirin is currently severely abused!
This medicine is useless for cough, flu, hand, foot and mouth disease, acute infectious diarrhea, etc., and it can also cause great harm to people’s bodies, especially breastfeeding mothers It should be used with caution, and couples who are trying to conceive at the same time or pregnant mothers who are already pregnant must not use it.
1. Under what circumstances can ribavirin be used?
Ribavirin is an antiviral drug also known as “ribavirin.” It is because of this name that many people have misunderstood, thinking that it can defeat all “viruses” and can “self-respect”.
Those who think like this must wake up, in fact, ribavirin is not a panacea! ! ! There are only two diseases it can really treat:
One is an oral drug, which is mainly used for the combined treatment of adults with hepatitis C; the other is a spray drug, which is mainly used for viral infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus. Pneumonia and bronchitis, skin herpes virus infection, etc.
At present, there are as many as ten ribavirin dosage forms in my country. In addition to the oral preparations and sprays mentioned above, there are also tablets, injections, granules, lozenges, etc. .
In addition, different dosage forms have various indications, and even different manufacturers and the same dosage form have different indications.
Take “ribavirin lozenges” as an example. Some manufacturers label it as a treatment for influenza symptoms, while others label it as a treatment for viral infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus. Pneumonia and bronchitis.
This shows that my country’s supervision of ribavirin is relatively loose, which is also one of the reasons for the abuse of ribavirin.
Second, Ribavirin is useless for common diseases in children
While the common cold and hand, foot and mouth disease are both caused by viruses, ribavirin doesn’t actually help.
1. Common cold
A normal common cold, if the child’s resistance is good, will heal on its own in about a week. At this time, the treatment for colds is mainly to relieve the child’s uncomfortable symptoms such as runny nose and cough.
In addition, in the “Influenza Diagnosis and Treatment Program (2018 Revision)” issued by the National Health Commission, some commonly used drugs for the treatment of influenza viruses do not have ribavirin, and the notice states It is also clearly stated that the overuse of antiviral drugs significantly increases the risk of adverse reactions.
Therefore, if the child has a cold, parents should not rush to give the child antiviral drugs, let alone use ribavirin indiscriminately.
2. Hand, foot and mouth disease in children
This disease initially manifested as herpetic pharyngitis, mainly caused by a variety of enteroviruses. This and ribavirin’s instructions for the treatment of “respiratory syncytial virus”, Actually it’s very different.
If the baby has hand, foot and mouth disease, the normal treatment plan is: appropriate fever reduction, oral ulcers, give the baby some cool food, etc. No special antiviral treatment is required, so It is not recommended to use it when the symptoms are mild, and it is considered to be used when it is serious.
But the scary thing is that most people now think that ribavirin is the anti-virus.
Some media reports: Many kindergartens use ribavirin as a backup medicine in order to prevent children from getting hand, foot and mouth disease and mutual infection. Doing so actually increases the risk of children taking medication.
3. Diarrhea in children
Ribavirin does not treat diarrhea, and some patients experience mild diarrhea while taking ribavirin.
This shows that the common cold, flu, mild hand, foot and mouth, acute infectious diarrhea and other diseases that are common in children, there is no scientific basis for the treatment of ribavirin.
Three, the abuse of ribavirin is very harmful
China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) notified adverse reactions to ribavirin in 2006. According to CFDA, in view of the wide clinical application of ribavirin in my country and the large amount of use, the main hazards are as follows:
1. Causes hemolytic anemia
The main side effect of ribavirin is hemolytic anemia. Long-term and high-dose use can cause leukopenia, anemia, and elevation of serum transaminases and bilirubin.
If a patient has symptoms of anemia, especially thalassemia, taking ribavirin can cause myocardial damage, which can be fatal.
2. Teratogenic or damage to the embryo
This drug is very harmful to the fetus. Even if it touches 1% of the therapeutic dose, it will cause fetal malformations. Therefore, pregnant women and couples planning to conceive should not use this drug.
3. Cancer Risk
In the World Health Organization Adverse Drug Reaction Database, there are more than 26,000 adverse drug reactions related to ribavirin, of which 81 cases are tumors. In addition to the risk of cancer, it may also lead to stunted growth in children and damage children’s health.
Therefore, I would like to remind mothers again that they must think twice when giving medicine to their babies, and attach great importance to the doctor’s instructions and strictly follow the doctor’s prescribed dosage of medicine. A higher degree of caution when using the drug can avoid unnecessary harm to the baby.