# Single dose azithromycin to prevent cholera in children

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2022 · $573,597

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Vibrio cholerae causes 3 million cases of cholera and 100,000 deaths annually. Young children are most
vulnerable to cholera, yet they are not protected by current vaccines. More aggressive approaches are needed
to prevent the cholera, especially in young children. To meet this challenge, the World Health Organization has
targeted the elimination of the global threat of cholera transmission by the year 2030, but the strategic
approach to achieve this ambitious goal has not yet been determined.
 For patients with cholera, effective antibiotic treatment dramatically reduces the severity of infection and
prevents the release of trillions of V. cholerae bacteria into the environment. However, while antibiotics are
often effectively used to prevent other infections, there are no standards for the use of antibiotics to prevent
cholera. As a result, there is tremendous variation in practice, and antibiotics with unproven efficacy are
frequently given to prevent cholera. These unproven approaches may needlessly contribute to antibiotic
resistance in both V. cholerae and important bystander bacteria as well. For this reason, the World Health
Organization Task Force on Cholera Control has recommended a halt to widespread antibiotic use for
preventing cholera, and instead recommends that studies be done to test the effectiveness of antibiotics for
cholera prevention as well as their impact of this on antimicrobial resistance.
 Our proposal addresses this exact knowledge gap. We will determine whether single-dose azithromycin is
effective in preventing V. cholerae infection in children who live in a household where there has been a case of
cholera. Without intervention, these children have a 30% chance of developing infection within one week.
While a single-dose of azithromycin is a preferred treatment for cholera, azithromycin to prevent cholera has
never been studied. Azithromycin has been found to be beneficial in other mass prevention studies in children,
but the impact of single-dose of azithromycin on antibiotic resistance has not been sufficiently tested. We
anticipate that this study will result in the more effective and judicious use of antibiotics to prevent cholera in
children.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10462780
- **Project number:** 5R01HD102540-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** JASON B HARRIS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $573,597
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-05 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10462780

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10462780, Single dose azithromycin to prevent cholera in children (5R01HD102540-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10462780. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*