A New Look at an Old Drug: Cumulative Effects of Low Ribavirin Doses in Amphetamine-Sensitized Rats.

Background: Psychotic states related to psychostimulant misuse in patients with hepatitis C virus infection may complicate acceptance and reaction to antiviral treatment. This observation equally applies to the widely used ribavirin therapy.

Objective: We examined psychomotor and body weight gain responses to low ribavirin doses after cessation of intermittent amphetamine treatment in adult rats to assess its role in neurobehavioral outcome during psychostimulant withdrawal.

Critical View on the Usage of Ribavirin in Already Existing Psychostimulant-Use Disorder.

Substance-use disorder represents a frequently hidden non-communicable chronic disease. Patients with intravenous drug addiction are at high risk of direct exposure to a variety of viral infections and are considered to be the largest subpopulation infected with the hepatitis C virus. Ribavirin is a synthetic nucleoside analog that has been used as an integral component of hepatitis C therapy.

How to preserve the original mission of research in the omics era?

The current focus on biomedical research has led to dearth of funding for basic research in evolution or ecology with the aim to better understand life.