Dexamethasone treatment does not alter mortality but reduces pulmonary pathology in Nipah virus-infected Syrian hamsters.

ABSTRACT: Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen that causes severe respiratory and neurologic disease, and there are currently no licensed vaccines or approved treatments. The acute respiratory disease caused by NiV is associated with severe inflammation, similar to severe COVID-19. Dexamethasone is an affordable and widely available synthetic glucocorticoid, that improved outcomes when administered to patients with severe COVID-19. To determine whether a similar beneficial effect could be achieved during NiV infection, we tested the effect of an anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive dose of dexamethasone on NiV in the Syrian hamster model. We found that dexamethasone treatment produced the expected hematologic changes in uninfected animals in a dose-dependent manner. In NiV-infected a

SUBMITTER: Goldin K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12439309 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature