Protective efficacy of oral ribavirin therapy. (A) Effect of oral ribavirin therapy.

<p>Hamsters were infected with Andes virus as outlined in the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0023560#s2" target="_blank">material and methods</a> section and treated with oral ribavirin at concentrations of 0, 5 or 50 mg kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ from day 1 through day 10 post-infection. (B) Chest radiographs of ribavirin treated and untreated hamsters. Extensive fulminant, bilateral lung infiltrates were observed at day 8 post-infection in control hamsters, whereas ribavirin treated hamsters showed little to no infiltrations. Shown are representative chest x-rays (ventral dorsal) from hamsters treated orally with 0, 5 or 50 mg ribavirin kg⁻¹ day⁻¹.