Mortality Reduction After Oral Azithromycin: Morbidity Study

Summary

The long-term goal of this study is to more precisely define the role of mass azithromycin treatments as an intervention for reducing childhood morbidity and increasing growth, and for the potential selection of antibiotic resistance. The investigators propose a set of 3 cluster-randomized trials in Malawi, Niger, and Tanzania comparing communities randomized to oral azithromycin with those randomized to placebo. To assess the generalizability of the intervention, investigators will monitor for antibiotic resistance, which could potentially limit adoption of mass antibiotic treatments. The investigators will also assess several measures of infectious diseases. The investigators hypothesize that mass azithromycin treatments will reduce childhood morbidity and will be accompanied by an acceptable level of antibiotic resistance.

Timeline

Start

2014-11

Primary completion

2020-08-27

Completion

2020-08-27

Publications

• Arzika AM, Abdou A, Maliki R, Lebas E, Cook C, Vanderschelden B, O'Brien KS, Cotter SY, Varnado NE, Callahan EK, Bailey RL, West SK, Rosenthal PJ, Porco TC, Lietman TM, Keenan JD; MORDOR-Niger Study Group. Biannual Mass Azithromycin Distributions for Preschool Children and Malaria Parasitemia: A Secondary Analysis of the MORDOR Cluster Randomized Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Aug 1;8(8):e2527148. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.27148.
• Liu J, Brennhofer SA, Zhang J, Stroup S, Pholwat S, Arzika AM, Maliki R, Abdou A, Lebas E, O'Brien KS, Arnold BF, Keenan JD, Lietman TM, Platts-Mills JA, Rogawski McQuade ET, Houpt ER. Effect of biannual azithromycin on respiratory pathogens among symptomatic children: results from the randomised Macrolides Oraux pour Reduire les Deces avec un Oeil sur la Resistance (MORDOR) I trial. BMJ Glob Health. 2025 Feb 10;10(2):e016043. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-016043.
• Arzika AM, Mindo-Panusis D, Abdou A, Kadri B, Nassirou B, Maliki R, Alsoudi AF, Zhang T, Cotter SY, Lebas E, O'Brien KS, Callahan EK, Bailey RL, West SK, Goodhew EB, Martin DL, Arnold BF, Porco TC, Lietman TM, Keenan JD; Macrolides Oraux pour Reduire les Deces Avec un Oeil sur la Resistance (MORDOR)-Niger Study Group. Effect of Biannual Mass Azithromycin Distributions to Preschool-Aged Children on Trachoma Prevalence in Niger: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Aug 1;5(8):e2228244. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.28244.
• Arzika AM, Maliki R, Goodhew EB, Rogier E, Priest JW, Lebas E, O'Brien KS, Le V, Oldenburg CE, Doan T, Porco TC, Keenan JD, Lietman TM, Martin DL, Arnold BF; MORDOR-Niger Study Group. Effect of biannual azithromycin distribution on antibody responses to malaria, bacterial, and protozoan pathogens in Niger. Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 21;13(1):976. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28565-5.
• Hart JD, Samikwa L, Meleke H, Burr SE, Cornick J, Kalua K, Bailey RL. Prevalence of nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage and resistance to macrolides in the setting of azithromycin mass drug administration: analysis from a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Malawi, 2015-17. Lancet Microbe. 2022 Feb;3(2):e142-e150. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00279-2.
• Arzika AM, Maliki R, Ali MM, Alio MK, Abdou A, Cotter SY, Varnado NE, Lebas E, Cook C, Oldenburg CE, O'Brien KS, Callahan EK, Bailey RL, West SK, Porco TC, Lietman TM, Keenan JD; MORDOR-Niger Study Group. Effect of Mass Azithromycin Distributions on Childhood Growth in Niger: A Cluster-Randomized Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Dec 1;4(12):e2139351. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.39351.
• Bloch EM, Mrango Z, Weaver J, Munoz B, Lietman TM, West SK. Causes of death after biannual azithromycin treatment: A community-level randomized clinical trial. PLoS One. 2021 Sep 24;16(9):e0250197. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250197. eCollection 2021.
• Arzika AM, Maliki R, Boubacar N, Kane S, Cotter SY, Lebas E, Cook C, Bailey RL, West SK, Rosenthal PJ, Porco TC, Lietman TM, Keenan JD; MORDOR Study Group. Biannual mass azithromycin distributions and malaria parasitemia in pre-school children in Niger: A cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled trial. PLoS Med. 2019 Jun 25;16(6):e1002835. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002835. eCollection 2019 Jun.
• West SK, Bloch E, Weaver J, Munoz B, Mrango Z, Kasubi M, Lietman T, Coles C. Morbidity in a Longitudinal Cohort of Children Residing in Villages Randomized to Biannual Treatment With Azithromycin Versus Placebo. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Feb 3;70(4):574-580. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz269.
• Oldenburg CE, Arzika AM, Maliki R, Kane MS, Lebas E, Ray KJ, Cook C, Cotter SY, Zhou Z, West SK, Bailey R, Porco TC, Keenan JD, Lietman TM; MORDOR Study Group. Safety of azithromycin in infants under six months of age in Niger: A community randomized trial. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Nov 12;12(11):e0006950. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006950. eCollection 2018 Nov.
• Doan T, Hinterwirth A, Arzika AM, Cotter SY, Ray KJ, O'Brien KS, Zhong L, Chow ED, Zhou Z, Cummings SL, Fry D, Oldenburg CE, Worden L, Porco TC, Keenan JD, Lietman TM. Mass Azithromycin Distribution and Community Microbiome: A Cluster-Randomized Trial. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2018 Jul 24;5(8):ofy182. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofy182. eCollection 2018 Aug.
• Doan T, Arzika AM, Ray KJ, Cotter SY, Kim J, Maliki R, Zhong L, Zhou Z, Porco TC, Vanderschelden B, Keenan JD, Lietman TM. Gut Microbial Diversity in Antibiotic-Naive Children After Systemic Antibiotic Exposure: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2017 May 1;64(9):1147-1153. doi: 10.1093/cid/cix141.
• Porco TC, Stoller NE, Keenan JD, Bailey RL, Lietman TM. Public key cryptography for quality assurance in randomization for clinical trials. Contemp Clin Trials. 2015 May;42:167-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2015.03.016. Epub 2015 Apr 7. No abstract available.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.