Combination antiviral therapy for respiratory virus infections.

A limited number of antiviral drug combinations have been shown to have enhanced activity for important human respiratory viruses. Rimantadine or amantadine combined with ribavirin shows increased antiviral effects in vitro and in experimental animal models. This combination warrants testing in human influenza. Immunoglobulin containing neutralizing anti-RSV antibody combined with ribavirin shows enhanced antiviral effects in experimental animal infections and provides clinical benefit in severe RSV infections of transplant patients. Generally, more effective treatments for acute respiratory viral infections will likely involve combinations of both antivirals and agents that modulate host inflammatory responses to infection.