View clinical trials related to Respiratory Tract Infections.
Filter by:This study is designed to assess the causes and impact of acute respiratory illness (common colds, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia) in adults age 65 and older. One of the ways to determine the virus causing a particular illness is to get a blood specimen when a person is sick and again later and look for the body's specific responses that identify the virus. Approximately 3000 subjects will be evaluated and their medical records assessed for details of recent illness and general health to help in understanding the subjects' current illness.
The PRIMAKid trial is a general practice based double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial on the effectiveness and costs of combined influenza and pneumococcal vaccination in pre-school children with recurrent respiratory tract infections. A target number of 660 children aged 18-72 months with a history of two or more general practitioner attended episodes of RTI, are included. Exclusion criteria are diseases accompanied by a high risk of recurrent RTI and conditions chronically treated with corticosteroids. Over a period of 7 to 22 months follow-up, the number of febrile RTI-episodes as primary outcome is assessed, and as secondary outcomes the severity and length of febrile RTI-episodes, medical visits / interventions, health-related quality of life and productivity loss of parents.
Nursing home residents are frequently transferred to hospital for management of pneumonia. This often leads to hospital related complications and is a burden on the acute care health system. The purpose of this study is to assess whether managing residents with pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infection on site in the nursing home can reduce hospital admissions and can reduce complications and improve quality of life for residents. We have randomized residents with nursing home acquired pneumonia to on-site management, using a clinical pathway, versus usual care.
Purpose The emergence and rapid rise in antibiotic resistance among common bacteria are adversely affecting the clinical course and health care costs of community-acquired infections. Because antibiotic resistance rates are strongly correlated with antibiotic use patterns, multiple organizations have declared reductions in unnecessary antibiotic use to be critical components of efforts to combat antibiotic resistance. Among humans, the vast majority of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are used to treat acute respiratory tract infections (ARIs) that have a viral etiology. Although the rate of antibiotic prescribing for ARIs by office-based physicians in the US has decreased about 16% from its peak in 1997, the rate of antibiotic prescribing in acute care settings (eg, emergency departments and urgent care centers), which account for 1 in 5 ambulatory antibiotic prescriptions in the US, has shown only a modest decline (6%) during this period. Translation of lessons from intervention studies in office-based practices is needed to improve antibiotic use in acute care settings.
Undernutrition in children less than five years of age is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Nutritional deficiencies may lead to less ability to fight infectious diseases. The purpose of this study is to determine whether zinc supplements plus standard antibiotics reduce the length of hospitalization in children with pneumonia. Six hundred children aged 6-36 months diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, will participate in this study. Half of the children will receive daily supplements of zinc, and the other half will receive placebo tablets (dummy pills containing no medication). Each child will be followed for 6 weeks after hospital discharge to check for recovery from the illness. All children in both groups will receive antibiotics and supportive care to manage pneumonia, according to the standards of care at MNH and Amana Municipal Hospital in accordance with the Recommendations of the Ministry of Health, Tanzania.
The purpose of this study is to determine if 1 course of antibiotic treatment with telithromycin is superior to azithromycin in the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECBs) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the community setting.
Cough is the most common reason for an acute care doctor's visit in the United States. Cough can affect sleep for both coughing children and their parents. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not endorse the use of dextromethorphan (DM), the most common over-the-counter (OTC) cough medication because of a lack of efficacy data and some potential for toxicity, particularly when taken in excess. In fact, DM has previously been shown to be no better than a placebo for cough in children. Therefore, alternative, therapeutic agents are needed. Honey anecdotally provides relief for symptoms due to upper respiratory tract infection (URI). This study seeks to use a survey to evaluate whether a single dose of honey and/or DM is better than no treatment at all for controlling nocturnal cough in children with URI and the effect of the treatments on sleep quality for coughing children and their parents. A single dose of honey or DM will be superior to no treatment for control of nocturnal cough due to upper URI as rated by both parents and children and will improve the sleep quality for those children and parents. Compared to DM, honey will be superior for controlling nocturnal cough due to upper URI (also based on child and parental report).
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a short training program for general practitioners in patient-centered communication to reduce antibiotic prescription for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI).
The purpose of this study is to measure the immune response (how the body fights infection) to an experimental preparation of live Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). A better understanding of this virus may be useful in development of vaccines and treatments. Participants will include 20 healthy adults age 21-40. Study procedures will include drawing blood, urine samples, respiratory exams, vital signs and temperature, diary cards, nasal mucus weight and nasal washes and swabs. All participants will receive vaccine via nose drops. Patients will participate in the study for about 2 months.
Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) are among the most frequent reasons for seeking medical attention in primary care. Although from predominantly viral origin, ARTIs are the most important condition for the prescription of antibiotics (AB), mainly due to the difficulty in primary care to differentiate between viral and bacterial etiology. Unnecessary AB use increases drug expenditures, side effects and AB resistance. A novel approach is to guide AB use by procalcitonin (ProCT), since serum levels are elevated in bacterial infections but remain lower in viral infections and inflammatory diseases. We aim to compare a strategy based on evidence-based guidelines with ProCT guided AB therapy in ARTIs with respect to outcome (days with restriction) and AB use. Patients presenting with ARTIs to primary care physicians and are intended to be treated with AB based on guidelines will be included and randomized 1:1 either to standard management or to the ProCT guided prescription of AB. All participating physicians will receive evidence-based guidelines for the management of patients with ARTIs. Patients with ARTI and in need of ABs by physicians’ clinical judgment and with informed consent will be randomized to ProCT plus guidelines ("ProCT group") versus only guidelines guided AB treatment ("control group"). In patients randomized to the ProCT group, the use of antibiotics will be more or less discouraged (<0.1 or <0.25 ug/L) or encouraged (>0.5 or >0.25 ug/L), respectively. A re-evaluation in patients with ProCT (<0.1 or <0.25 ug/L) after 6 to 24 hours is mandatory. All patients will be reassessed at day 3 and it is recommended to stop AB in the ProCT group as described above. Structured phone interviews at days 14 and 28 will be done in all patients from both groups.