An intervention study for bronchiolitis in Darwin and Townsville - Comparing severity of disease and readmission of infants given azithromycin or placebo.

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In a previous study on bronchiolitis in Aboriginal children we found that 67% were from remote communties and required retrievals. A recent study has also shown that almost 2.5% of Aboriginal children in Australia's Northern Territory will be hospitalised for bronchiolitis more than once before reaching the age of 18 months. Multiple hospitalised respiratory infections and the severity of these infections are risk factors for developing chronic lung diseases including bronchiectisis and asthma. It is planned that this study will provide an estimation of the effect of azithromycin on the severity of bronchiolitis in Aboriginal and non Aboriginal infants. Assessing redmission for respiratory illness within 6 months may provide some indication of the medium term benefit of a single dose of azithromycin, given to infants in the acute phase of viral bronchiolitis, in reducing the risk of further respiratory illness requiring hospitalisation.