Treatment of ppROM With Erythromycin vs. Azithromycin Trial

Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) complicates 4% of pregnancies annually. This pregnancy complication is a major contributor to preterm births and results in neonatal morbidity and mortality. The current standard of care for PPROM subjects between the gestational age of 24 weeks and 0 days and 33 weeks and 6 days, is to administer ampicillin and erythromycin for a total of 7 days. Erythromycin can cause GI upset and some subjects do not tolerate this regimen over the course of 7 days. In addition, there is a national shortage of erythromycin, and published expert opinion proposed to use a second-generation macrolide (azithromycin) instead of erythromycin. Azithromycin can be taken once daily, is cheaper than erythromycin and has less GI upset adverse effects. The investigators' objective is to compare the effectiveness of the 2 regimens in prolonging pregnancy after PPROM. The investigators' working hypothesis is that there is no measurable difference in the primary outcome between the group randomized to the azithromycin regimen versus the group randomized to the erythromycin regimen.