IFNA1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome: In a retrospective cohort study, Arabi et al. (26) studied the effect of ribavirin and IFN on the 90-day mortality rate in patients with MERS; 144/349 patients (41%) were treated with ribavirin/IFN (58% IFN-α2a, 17% IFN-α2b, and 27% IFN-β1a).