Evaluation of Efficacy of Ribavirin on Laboratory Test and Severity Score in Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever in Children

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is endemic in Tokat province. It is observed in all age groups. The case fatality rate varies 20-30% in hospitalized patients and 0-5% among children. Ribavirin use and supportive measures are the main treatment modalities, but the effects of ribavirin in CCHF are controversial. Most of the studies investigating the effectiveness of ribavirin are done by comparing the initial and the final laboratory values. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of oral ribavirin use in children with CCHF by using all the clinical and laboratory findings and to investigate the presence of unnoticed results. In the study, the data of 67 patients under 19 years old who were hospitalized and followed up with a diagnosis of CCHF during 2012-2020 epidemic period were retrospectively analyzed. Epidemiological and demographic characteristics, clinical and laboratory data were retrieved from the patient files. We implemented a linear mixed-effects model to assess the effects of the ribavirin, taking into account the repeated measures of the data. Ribavirin was given to 33 (49.2%) of the patients. 54 (80.6%) of the patients were male, 13 (19.4%) were female, 52 (77.6%) of the patients were living in rural areas and 15 (22.4%) were living in urban areas. The mean age was 15.1 (median= 15.5, range= 8-18) years in patients who did not receive ribavirin, and 15.2 (median= 15, range= 11-18) years in ribavirin administered patients. At the time of admission 63 (94%) of the patients had fever, 60 (89.6%) had fatigue, 38 (56.7%) had rash, 48 (71.6%) had myalgia, 30 (44.8%) had headache, 25 (37.3%) had abdominal pain, 30 (44.8%) had vomiting, 21 (31.8%) had diarrhea, 29 (43.3%) had drowsiness, 29 (43.3%) had bleeding in the mucosa and 27 (40.3%) had petechiae. Drowsiness and mucosal bleeding rates were significantly higher in patients who received ribavirin (p< 0.05). The time from tick bite to hospital admission was 4.85 (median= 4.5, range= 2-9) days in patients who did not receive ribavirin, and 4.64 (median= 5, range= 2-9) days in ribavirin administered patients. The mean length of the hospital stay in patients who did not receive ribavirin was 6.68 (median= 7, range= 4-10) days, while it was 7.45 (median= 8, range= 3-13) days in those treated with ribavirin. Linear-mixed effect test results showed that ribavirin decreased hemoglobin (Hb) (95% GA= -0.12/-0.02), suppressed white blood cell count (WBC) (95% GA= -0.15/-0.02) and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) (95% GA= -0.12/0.05), and decreased alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (95% GA= -9.32/-1.49), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (95% GA= -25.06/-2.36) and severity score index (95% GA= -0.28/-0.004). As a result, ribavirin suppressed Hb, WBC and ALC levels in children with CCHF, but decreased liver enzymes and severity score much faster in the elapsed time.