Treatment

Supportive therapy is important in CHHF. This includes:

• maintenance of hydration
• management of shock
• sedation
• pain relief
• usual precautions for patients with bleeding disorders
• transfusions (when necessary)

Use of convalescent plasma therapy for treatment of CHHF reduces mortality significantly and anecdotal evidence shows that the antiviral drug ribavirin may also hold promise for treating CHHF. Ribavirin has also been considered for preventing development of disease in people exposed to other arenaviruses.

Recovery

The precise mortality of CHHF is unknown and the only described case was fatal.

Patients who have suffered from other arenaviruses may continue to excrete virus in urine or semen for weeks after recovery. For this reason, these fluids should be monitored for infectivity, since convalescent patients have the potential to infect others (particularly sexual partners) via these fluids.