by Mark J. Manary, Kenneth Maleta, Indi Trehan
Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance II Project (FANTA-2) Bridge, FHI
360, March 2012

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The Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) Project undertook a clinical trial comparing nutritional recovery and mortality outcomes in children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) receiving 1 week of amoxicillin, cefdinir, or placebo, in addition to usual peanut-based ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) therapy. This report documents the outcomes of the trial, which clearly showed the benefit of using antibiotics in the outpatient treatment of SAM without medical complications in a setting with high levels of kwashiorkor and HIV infection.