1 Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA 15213
In Reply.
The concerns of Dashefsky et al regarding the validity of the studies that led to the FDA approval of aerosolized ribavirin for the treatment of patients with respiratory syncytial virus infection are well described in their critical review of those studies.1 We agree that none of those studies provided the kind of conclusive quantification of ribavirin's efficacy that should preclude further placebocontrolled trials. Nonetheless, ribavirin is on the market, and physicians who care for young infants hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus infection must decide whether and when it should be used.