Dr David Tickell is leading a clinical treatment trial in Ballarat aiming to prevent hospitalisation rates for pre-school wheeze. He said the disease was more common than families tended to realise and was often mistaken for asthma.

While asthma is a chronic allergic response, pre-school wheeze is an inflammatory response to respiratory viral illnesses. Dr Tickell said the prognosis was often a lot better for the wheeze.

"This is wheezing when there is a virus and inflammation in the airway," Dr Tickell said. "You can still respond to Ventolin...this treatment should reduce the burden of individual illness."

The program uses OM-85, a treatment extracted from the dead bacteria cells and delivered via capsule to stimulate lymph glands in the upper intestine. While studies have proven the treatment effective in Europe, Ballarat is among 35 hospitals to test the treatment in Australia and New Zealand.

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In a double-blind trial program, children are given either the treatment or a placebo to test response.

There are more than 30 respiratory viral illnesses that can cause wheeze in children aged under five.

Dr Tickell said Ballarat was a good test location because there were higher viral rates in this region, compared to warmer areas, for example in far north Queensland - and there was higher than usual viral loads in Ballarat right now.

"COVID-19 has thrown usual seasonal peaks out the window," Dr Tickell said. "Last year viral loads started to pick up in February-March while this year the flu and other virus seasons are doing some interesting things. We're having different patterns because people are circulating more.

"That's not to say restrictions are bad, it's just each time restrictions are lifted there has been a surge in virus because there is not that immunity build up."

Dr Tickell said high viral loads did not mean illness severity was any worse, rather that seasonal illnesses were peaking at different times and spreading fast.

Grampians Health is a recruitment site for the trial Assessing the Reduction of Recurrent admissions using OM-85 for the treatment of preschool Wheeze, known by the acronym ARROW. The trial is managed by the Children's Inpatient Research Collaboration of Australia and New Zealand, known as CIRCAN.

His team is finding children to be involved from hospital admissions for pre-school wheeze at Ballarat Base Hospital. Children need to have had at least three episodes of wheezing.

Dr Tickell hoped that while the treatment would unlikely be publicly available for a couple of years, it might become a standard therapy worldwide for parents to better manage the condition at home.

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