Flu is a viral infection which usually causes mild symptoms like cough and fever. Children with a long-term medical condition or disability who develop flu or flu-like illness are at greater risk of becoming unwell from further infections than otherwise healthy children.

The ARCHIE Study will help find out whether giving these ‘at risk’ children an antibiotic called co-amoxiclav within the first five days of developing flu might:

1.    help stop them from developing bacterial infections and becoming more unwell,

2.    help them get better more quickly,

3.    affect how well antibiotics work against similar infections in the future.

Co-amoxiclav is a type of penicillin antibiotic. It has a wider effect that ordinary penicillin and is already used to treat many types of bacterial infections in children like chest, ear, throat and sinus infection.

We will follow up some ARCHIE study participants for up to a year to find out whether antibiotics would be effective at treating similar infections in future. 

There are many GP surgeries and Hospital Trusts around England and Wales participating in the ARCHIE Study. You can find your local participating site using the map below.

The ARCHIE study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (Grant Reference RP-PG-1210-12012).

Contact the study team: Tel: 01865 617 842 or 01865 617 836 (fax 01865 617 939) • Email: archie@phc.ox.ac.uk • Online: http://www.archiestudy.com

Find a participating GP surgery or hospital near you:

If your GP surgery, clinic or local hospital is taking part please let them know you would be interested in the ARCHIE study, should your child get flu.

See the map for a list of GP surgeries and local hospitals taking part in the ARCHIE Study:
(Purple pins - GP surgeries; Blue pins - Hospitals and A&E departments; Yellow pins - Walk-in Centres.)

Click on the pin to show the name and postcode.

Make contact:

If your local hospital or GP surgery is listed, you can either:

1. Contact our friendly study team who will be able to point you in the right direction: archie@phc.ox.ac.uk
2. Contact your local hospital - find their contact details here.
3. Phone your GP surgery directly, mentioning you are interested in signing up to the Archie Study.

What do we mean by 'at risk' children?

To find out which children with flu are ‘at risk’ of becoming more unwell, we have looked at research studies on conditions which make children more likely to need treatment in hospital if they get flu. The figure below shows the results of our research on medical conditions that increase the risk of complications if children get affected by flu or flu-like illness.

How much money could we save parents and the NHS?

We will ask parents and children who take part in the ARCHIE study to tell us how having flu affects their quality-of-life and day-to-day activities (e.g. work and school). We will use this information to help us work out whether giving ‘at risk’ children antibiotics early during a flu-like illness might save the amount of money parents and the NHS have to spend when ‘at risk’ children get flu.

Frequently asked questions

Parent information leaflet

Child information leaflet

Short information leaflet

Who we are collaborating with

Contact the ARCHIE study team

Downloadable colouring sheets and word puzzles

New activities added weekly.

Healthtalk.org - people's experiences of flu or flu-like illness in chronically ill or disabled children

See and hear parents sharing their personal stories on film of dealing with flu or flu-like illness in children with chronic illness or a disability.