When a child has a cold, fever, cough, pneumonia, hand, foot and mouth disease, or even intussusception, many doctors will prescribe a medicine called ribavirin, which makes some mothers very confused: Is ribavirin Is Weilin a magic medicine that can cure all diseases?
On the contrary, ribavirin is currently being severely abused!
This medicine is useless for coughs, flu, hand, foot and mouth disease, acute infectious diarrhea, etc., and it can also cause great harm to the human body. Especially lactating mothers should use it with caution. Couples who are preparing for pregnancy 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 "exclusively dominate".
People who think this way must wake up. In fact, ribavirin is not a universal antiviral drug! ! ! There are only two diseases that it can really treat:
One is an oral preparation drug, mainly used for the combined treatment of adult hepatitis C; the other is a spray preparation drug, mainly used for virus caused by respiratory syncytial virus Sexual pneumonia and bronchitis, skin herpes virus infection, etc.
Currently, there are as many as ten dosage forms of ribavirin in my country. In addition to the oral dosage forms and sprays mentioned above, there are also tablets, injections, granules , lozenges, etc.
In addition, different dosage forms have various indications, and there are even situations where different manufacturers and the same dosage form have different indications.
Take "ribavirin lozenges" as an example. Some manufacturers label it to treat influenza symptoms, while others label it to treat viral pneumonia and bronchitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus.
This shows that my country’s supervision of ribavirin is relatively loose, which is also one of the reasons for the abuse of ribavirin.
2. Ribavirin is not useful for common childhood illnesses
Although the common cold and hand, foot and mouth disease are both caused by viruses, ribavirin actually cannot help.
1. Common cold
A normal common cold can heal on its own in about a week if the child has good resistance. At this time, the treatment for colds is mainly to relieve children’s uncomfortable symptoms such as runny nose and cough.
In addition, in the "Influenza Diagnosis and Treatment Plan (2018 Revised Edition)" issued by the National Health Commission, ribavirin is not included in some commonly used drugs to treat influenza viruses, and the notice also clearly states: overuse of antiviral drugs Medications significantly increase the risk of adverse effects.
Therefore, if your child has a cold, parents must not rush to give them antiviral drugs, let alone use ribavirin indiscriminately.
2. Hand, foot and mouth disease in children
This disease initially manifests as herpetic pharyngitis and buccal inflammation, which is mainly caused by a variety of enteroviruses. This is actually different from the treatment of "respiratory syncytial virus" written in ribavirin's instructions Very far.
If your baby has hand, foot and mouth disease, the normal treatment plan is: if you have fever, cool down the fever appropriately, and if you have oral ulcers, give your baby some cool food, etc. No special antiviral treatment is required, so it is not recommended when the symptoms are mild. If the symptoms are severe, before considering using it.
But the scary thing is that most people now think that ribavirin is needed for anti-virus.
Some media reported that many kindergartens use ribavirin as a backup drug in order to prevent children from contracting hand, foot and mouth disease and transmitting it to each other. Doing so actually increases the risk of medication for children.
3. Diarrhea in children
Ribavirin has no effect in treating diarrhea, and some patients have experienced mild diarrhea during the use of ribavirin.
This shows that there is no scientific basis for treating common colds, influenza, mild hand, foot and mouth, acute infectious diarrhea and other diseases among children with ribavirin.
3. Abused ribavirin is extremely harmful
The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) reported the adverse reactions of ribavirin in 2006. CFDA believes that: given that ribavirin is widely used clinically in my country and is used in large amounts, the current harmful effects are mainly as follows:
1. Causes hemolytic anemia
The main side effect of ribavirin is that it causes hemolytic anemia , long-term and high-dose use can cause leukopenia, anemia, and increases in serum aminotransferases and bilirubin .
If a patient has symptoms of anemia, especially those with thalassemia, taking ribavirin may cause myocardial damage, and the damage may be fatal.
2. Teratogenic or damaging to the embryo
This drug is extremely harmful to the fetus. Even a therapeutic dose of 1% can cause fetal malformations. Therefore, pregnant women and couples preparing for pregnancy should not use this drug.
3. Cancer risk
In the World Health Organization adverse drug reaction database, there are more than 26,000 adverse reactions related to ribavirin, of which 81 cases manifested as tumors. In addition to the risk of cancer, it may also cause stunted growth in children and damage children's health.
Therefore, mothers are reminded once again that they must think twice before giving medicine to their babies, pay great attention to the doctor's instructions, and strictly follow the doctor's instructions for drug dosage. By being more cautious when using medication, you can avoid unnecessary harm to your baby.
