Short versus standard antifungal treatment for children with Candida bloodstream infections
Official title: Short Course Versus Standard Course Antifungal Therapy for Pediatric Candidemia: A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial
Funded at Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst · NIH-11403746 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This compares giving one extra week versus the usual two extra weeks of antifungal medicine for children whose Candida bloodstream infection clears after initial treatment.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Little Rock, United States) |
| Project start | August 5, 2022 |
| Project end | July 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $28,350 |
| NIH project number | 3R01AI170385-04S4 |
| Project ID | NIH-11403746 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children with uncomplicated candidemia who received an echinocandin, show clinical improvement, and have cleared blood cultures after the first 7 days of therapy are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Children with persistent positive blood cultures, deep-seated or complicated Candida infections, or those who do not improve on initial therapy are unlikely to benefit from the shorter course tested here.
What this research studies
If your child has a Candida bloodstream infection and shows clinical improvement with blood cultures that clear after one week of echinocandin treatment, doctors at participating hospitals will randomly assign them to stop after 7 total days or to continue to 14 total days of therapy. The trial enrolls children across multiple pediatric centers and follows them for relapse, complications, and side effects. Researchers will collect clinical data and monitor for recurrent infection and other outcomes to see which length of treatment works best. The goal is to compare safety and recovery after the shorter versus standard duration.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, children could receive shorter courses of antifungal medicine, which may lower side effects, shorten hospital stays, and reduce costs.
How similar studies have gone: Adult randomized trials and a pediatric observational study support echinocandins for initial treatment, but no randomized trial has previously compared shorter versus standard antifungal durations for invasive fungal disease, so this is a novel question.
Where this research is happening
-
Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
Little Rock, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Steinbach, William J — Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
- Study coordinator: Steinbach, William J
Related research
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Shorter antifungal treatment for kids with candidemia
A multi-center pediatric trial tests whether a shorter, 7 extra days of antifungal therapy after an initial 7 days is just as good as the standard 14-day approach for kids with candidemia who are improving on echinocandin therapy.
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Short Course vs Standard Course Antifungal Therapy for Pediatric Candidemia
This study tests whether a shorter 7-day total antifungal treatment after an initial 7 days of echinocandin therapy is as effective as the usual 14-day course for children with candidemia.
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Shorter antifungal treatment for kids with candidemia
A multi-center study tests whether kids with candidemia can finish treatment earlier after an initial week of antifungal therapy than the standard two weeks total.
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Shorter antifungal treatment for kids with candidemia
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Shorter antifungal course for kids with candidemia
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.