Treatment of Preschool Children With Upper Respiratory Tract Illnesses Using Azythromycin and Lower Respiratory Tract Symptoms Using Oral Corticosteroids.

Preschool aged children often have severe bouts of coughing and/or wheezing that lead to visits to the doctor's office, urgent care, emergency room and often hospitalization. APRIL-OCELOT is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study in 600 preschool children with a history of significant wheezing episodes in the year prior to enrollment. All children enter the APRIL portion of the study, which will compare azithromycin to placebo, given for 5 days during the early signs of an upper respiratory tract illness, for preventing the development of lower respiratory tract symptoms. APRIL is a 78 week study, but participation will end earlier if the child requires a fourth course of APRIL treatment or develops significant lower respiratory tract symptoms. Only those children who develop significant lower respiratory tract symptoms during APRIL will enter the OCELOT portion of the study, which will compare oral corticosteroid to placebo for treating lower respiratory tract symptoms as measured by the Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure (PRAM). OCELOT participation will be complete after 14 days. Children may not reenter APRIL after completing OCELOT.