A Multi-Center Randomized Prospective Study On The Treatment Of Infant Bronchiolitis With Interferon Alpha 1b Nebulization

BackgroundThe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the main cause of bronchiolitis in infants and interferon (IFN) alpha is a commercial antiviral drug. The nebulization of IFN alpha 1b could be a viable treatment method. In this study, the therapeutic effects and safety of IFN alpha 1b delivery via nebulization in infant bronchiolitis were investigated in this multi-center prospective study.Methods and findingsBronchiolitis patients admitted to 22 hospitals who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled and randomly allocated to four groups: control, IFN Intramuscular Injection, IFN Nebulization 1 (1 mu g/kg), and IFN Nebulization 2 (2 mu g/kg) groups. All patients were observed for 7 days. The therapeutic effects and safety of different IFN delivery doses and delivery modes were evaluated. Coughing severity change, as scored by the researchers and parents, between days 1 and 3 was significantly different between the IFN Nebulization 2 and control groups. Lowell wheezing score change between days 3 and 5 was significantly different between IFN Nebulization 1 and control groups. There were no significant differences among the four groups regarding the number of consecutive days with fever, three-concave sign, fatigue and sleepiness, and loss of appetite. There were no cases of severe complications, no recurrence of fever, and no regression of mental status.ConclusionsIFN-alpha 1b could more effectively alleviate coughing and wheezing in bronchiolitis. IFN-alpha 1b nebulization had significant advantages in shortening the duration of wheezing and alleviating coughing.