Antibiotics as part of the management of severe acute malnutrition.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Severe acute malnutrition contributes to 1 million deaths among children annually. Adding routine antibiotic agents to nutritional therapy may increase recovery rates and decrease mortality among children with severe acute malnutrition treated in the community.

Methods

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we randomly assigned Malawian children, 6 to 59 months of age, with severe acute malnutrition to receive amoxicillin, cefdinir, or placebo for 7 days in addition to ready-to-use therapeutic food for the outpatient treatment of uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition. The primary outcomes were the rate of nutritional recovery and the mortality rate.

Results

A total of 2767 children with severe acute malnutrition were enrolled. In the

SUBMITTER: Trehan I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3654668 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature