The Exposure of Health Care Workers to Ribavirin Aerosol

To the Editor. — We differ with an opinion expressed inThe Journalon April 7 regarding health care worker exposure to ribavirin, an antiviral agent with in vitro activity against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).1Data regarding the efficacy of this agent in the treatment of RSV infections in children have been published.2,3Guidelines for the use of this drug have been published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.4Faculty from the Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, and Children's Hospital, San Diego, were faced with the same concerns regarding health care worker safety as those expressed by Guglielmo et al.1The Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee of Children's Hospital appointed a similar task force from the University of California and Children's Hospital composed of representatives from the Divisions of Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary Medicine, General Pediatrics, and Pharmacy to discuss these issues as well as