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Health
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2006-09-13 09:02:15-04
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No evidence of SARS treatments having worked, claim researchers
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London, Sept 13: Researchers have reported that there is little evidence to prove that that any of the treatments used to fight the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus were effective. Almost four years since the outbreak doctors are still clueless as to how to treat the disease in case of an outbreak. The virus infected more than 8,000 people and killed more than 700 around the world in 2002 and 2003. Although there were only a few cases reported in Thailand, it had a major impact on the Thai tourism industry. Following the outbreak, the World Health Organization recommended a systematic review of clinical results. The aim was to steer doctors towards the correct treatment should the disease rear its head again. Epidemiologist Lauren Stockman at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and her co-workers trawled through the medical literature for studies on six SARS treatments. Among those they focused on were antiviral treatments, such as ribavirin, and corticosteroids that were used to dampen down the immune system. The team found that in the 54 clinical studies of SARS-treatment outcomes, the vast majority were inconclusive and eight showed evidence of possible harm from the drugs, reports nature magazine. Though the researchers don't rule out the possibility that some of the drugs had a beneficial effect, they say that it's impossible to tell because the treatments were not given with the rigour expected of a clinical trial. The researchers found that some studies suggested that ribavirin and steroids actually harmed patients; ribavirin increased the risk of anaemia and steroids are linked to bone deterioration and fungal infections. On the other hand, some of the drugs used during the epidemic do seem to inhibit the SARS virus in laboratory experiments on infected tissues, they found.
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