SynthesisEmerging infectious diseases2022
Lack of Evidence for Ribavirin Treatment of Lassa Fever in Systematic Review of Published and Unpublished Studies
Synthesis in Emerging infectious diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Therapeutics for Nipah virus disease: a systematic review to support prioritisation of drug candidates for clinical trials.The Lancet. Microbe · 2025Pooled it
- Ribavirin for treating Lassa fever: A systematic review of pre-clinical studies and implications for human dosing.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Infection-associated acute kidney injury in resource-limited settings.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2026Review
- Lessons in the Wake of a Lassa fever case in the Midwest U.S: epidemiology, management and preparedness gaps.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Review
- Presence of Lassa Virus RNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid Indicating Neuroinvasive Lassa Fever in Pediatric Patients From Edo State, Nigeria.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Evidence for Neuroinvasive Lassa Virus Infection in Pediatric Patients: Initial Findings and Implications.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Site-1 protease mediated GPC processing is required for persistence of LCMV Clone 13.Npj viruses · 2026Article
- The application of ROBINS-I guidance in systematic reviews of non-randomised studies: A descriptive study.Research synthesis methods · 2026Article
- Development of a Rapid and Sensitive AlphaLISA-Based Assay for Lassa Virus Glycoprotein Detection.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Meta-analysis of functional genomics studies reveals conserved cellular pathways required by viruses of pandemic concern.Access microbiology · 2026Article
- A review of post-exposure strategies for high-consequence viral pathogens in the laboratory.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are not the main driver of Lassa fever pathogenesis in macaques.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Coadministration of ribavirin and arenaviral entry inhibitor LHF-535 enhances antiviral benefit against authentic lassa virus.Virologica Sinica · 2025Article
- Delayed low-dose oral administration of 4'-fluorouridine inhibits pathogenic arenaviruses in animal models of lethal disease.Science translational medicine · 2024Article
- A Lassa virus live attenuated vaccine candidate that is safe and efficacious in guinea pigs.NPJ vaccines · 2024Article
- Virus Load Kinetics in Lassa Fever Patients Treated With Ribavirin: A Retrospective Cohort Study From Southern Nigeria.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Identification of a macrocyclic compound targeting the lassa virus polymerase.Antiviral research · 2024Article
- Treatment of highly virulent mammarenavirus infections-status quo and future directions.Expert opinion on drug discovery · 2024Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Ribavirin has been used widely to treat Lassa fever in West Africa since the 1980s. However, few studies have systematically appraised the evidence for its use. We conducted a systematic review of published and unpublished literature retrieved from electronic databases and gray literature from inception to March 8, 2022. We identified 13 studies of the comparative effectiveness of ribavirin versus no ribavirin treatment on mortality outcomes, including unpublished data from a study in Sierra Leone provided through a US Freedom of Information Act request. Although ribavirin was associated with decreased mortality rates, results of these studies were at critical or serious risk for bias when appraised using the ROBINS-I tool. Important risks for bias related to lack of control for confounders, immortal time bias, and missing outcome data. Robust evidence supporting the use of ribavirin in Lassa fever is lacking. Well-conducted clinical trials to elucidate the effectiveness of ribavirin for Lassa fever are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.