Could a simple supplement save feverish kids in poor countries?

NCT ID NCT06426147

Disease control Sponsor: Barcelona Institute for Global Health Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026

Summary

This study tests whether giving L-Citrulline, a natural supplement, for 28 days can help hospitalized children aged 1 month to 5 years who have fever and are at high risk of serious problems. About 888 children in Mozambique and Ethiopia will receive either the supplement or a placebo. The goal is to see if it reduces death, organ failure, or other severe outcomes.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance: L-Citrulline (a dietary supplement)
What this could lead to: If it works, this could provide a simple, low-cost supplement to reduce deaths and serious complications in hospitalized children with fever in low-resource settings.
What could go wrong: This is an early-stage trial with no phase designation, and the supplement may not show benefit over placebo. Results may not apply to other settings or populations.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Phase

Not a phased trial

Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.

Participants

About 2,200 people

The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.

Started

Dec 2025

Expected to finish

Aug 2027

An estimate. End dates often move.

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Ages

0 to 60 months

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Enrolled in the initial prognostic screening component. * Sick children with fever (axillary temperature\>37.5ºC) or a history of fever (within the preceding 72h) or with suspected severe disease. * 1m-\<60 months of age. * With an indication for admission, or having already been admitted to hospital due to their illness. * With an sTREM-1 PoC result classifying their disease as of "moderate-high risk" ("yellow" or "red") upon study recruitment and within D3. * Residents in the study area or willing to be contacted and traced during the study duration. * Willing to sign an informed consent document. * Willing to undergo and adhere to study procedures as explained in the IC document. Exclusion Criteria: * Admission to hospital for social reasons (and not on account of their disease). * Children for which informed consent document has not been signed. * Known allergy or contraindication to any of the study supplements including lactose intolerance or observing a lactose-free diet. * Concurrent participation in any other clinical trial. * Patient under NPO or "nothing by mouth" prescription . * Contraindication for the insertion of a nasogastric tube (NGT) of for the enteral administration of drugs through the NGT in children who cannot tolerate by mouth. * Critically sick patient whose prognosis is considered by the clinical researcher as fatal outcome in the following hours after screening. * Any other condition determined by the investigators that makes it unlikely that the participant would complete the follow up until day 28 of study.

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

CHILD syndrome Infections infectious disease

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Child, only Infections Infectious disease

How to take part

Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.

The places running it

2 sites in 2 countries. The list below names each one and where it is.
The official record

ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.

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A doctor treating you

A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.

Could a simple supplement save feverish kids in poor countries?

What the study statuses mean