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Could preventive intranasal interferon lower the morbidity in children prone to respiratory illness?
Author(s) -
Douglas Robert M,
Moore Brian,
Miles Helen B,
Pinnock Carole B
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1990.tb125353.x
Subject(s) - medicine , respiratory illness , nasal administration , respiratory system , intensive care medicine , pediatrics , immunology
Recent studies have demonstrated that rhinovirus infections can be prevented in the family setting through use of intranasal interferon sprays which are commenced when another family member develops a cold. One hundred and twenty‐seven children aged 4–9 years who had been hospitalized during their first year of life for severe infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus were studied virologically and epidemiologically during a seven‐month period which included the winter months. The hypothesis was that a significant part of their respiratory morbidity would be preventable by a contact prophylaxis approach using intranasal interferon. However, the findings suggest that a preventive approach of this kind would not substantially reduce the burden of respiratory illness in these children because: the target children themselves more often introduced illness into the family than did other household members; rhinovirus infections preventable by interferon were associated with little lower respiratory morbidity; and rhinoviruses were minor contributors to the total respiratory illness burden in these respiratory illness‐prone children.