Table 1.

Baseline characteristics.

	Azithromycin*	Penicillin*
n	26	22
Mean age (yr)	29.2	30
Sex (male)	11	10
Low socio-economic class (%)	54.6	45.4
History of rheumatic fever (%)	54	50
RHD
MS	13	12
MR	4	5
AR	4	3
Sinus rhythm	24	21
Symptom class
NYHA class I (%)	45	55
NYHA class II (%)	51	43

^*P = not significant. AR: aortic regurgitation, MR: mitral regurgitation, MS: mitral stenosis, NYHA: New York Heart Association, RHD: rheumatic heart disease.