Loading...
Although most patients with “acute bronchitis” have viral infections, many receive antibiotics. Now, European researchers have conducted a multinational antibiotic trial that involved 2061 adults with so-called acute “lower-respiratory-tract infections” (LRTIs) — a term sometimes used interchangeably with bronchitis — in whom pneumonia was not suspected. Patients were included whether cough was (or was not) the most prominent symptom, as long as LRTI was considered to be likely. At enrollment, 79% of participants produced sputum (discolored in about half); mean duration of illness was 9 days.
Patients received amoxicillin (1 g, thrice daily) or placebo for 1 week and recorded daily symptom scores for 4 weeks. For the primary outcome — durati…