Table 2.

Comparison of different treatment approaches for RSV.

Treatment	Mechanism	Example	Remark	References
Antiviral drugs	Replication inhibition	RSV 604	Effective against RSV, but adverse effect on the host	[104] [142–146]
	Mutation	Ribavirin, viramidine, merimepodib
	Inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase	Ribavirin, mycophenolate, mizoribine
	Immunostimulatory effects	Ribavirin
Fusion inhibitors	Inhibiting fusion protein attachment to cell	Peptide—HR121, HR212, RhoA Chemical—BMS-433771, RFI-641	Peptide fusion inhibitors promising anti RSV drug; chemical fusion inhibitors have side effects	[147–150]
Nanoparticles	Inhibiting attachment to cell	Silver nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles	Emerging field, conclusive studies required	[151, 152]
Antisense therapy	RNA interference	siRNA-ALN-RSV01 Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers	Effective and safe; ALN-RSV01 completed phase IIb clinical trails	[153–157]
Ethnobotanicals	Probably fusion inhibitors, anti-inflammatory	Plant extracts—Cinnamomum cassia, Cimicifuga foetida, Sheng-Ma-Ge-Gen-Tang, Ginger, etc. Decoctions-modified Dingchuan, Liu-He-Tang, water extract of Licorice	Promising but conclusive studies required	[158–164]