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Antibiotics are usually not indicated for respiratory infections, except for parenchymal lung infection (JW Emerg Med May 22 2009). To examine prescribing practices, researchers in Europe performed a cross-sectional observational study of antibiotic prescribing for acute cough in 2560 immunocompetent adults (median age, 45; 37% male) in 14 cities in 13 countries.
Antibiotics were prescribed in 53% of cases overall, and the prescribing rate ranged among countries from 21% to 88%. The classes of antibiotics prescribed also varied widely: Amoxicillin was prescribed in 29% of cases (range, 3%–83%), macrolides/lincosamides in 26% (range, 4%–50%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid in 15% (range, 0%–7%), tetracyclines in 14% (range, 0%–72%), cephalospori…