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Short-Duration Therapy for Respiratory Tract Infections

¹ Clinical Associate Professor, Infectious Disease Specialist, The Ohio State University Medical Center, 410 W. 10th Ave., 368 Doan Hall, Columbus, OH 43210-1240, fax 614/293-6042, Goff-1{at}medctr.osu.edu

Reprints: Debra A Goff PharmD

Antimicrobial therapy for community-acquired respiratory tract infections (CARTIs) must be of sufficient duration to result in clinical cure and bacterial eradication. Elimination of the causative bacteria may prevent disease progression, relapse, or recurrence while minimizing the risk for emergence of resistant bacterial strains. Standard 10-day courses of antibiotic therapy often are not completed by patients. This may decrease the likelihood of bacterial eradication and contribute to increased selection of resistant organisms. The ideal antimicrobial agent for the treatment of CARTIs would have an appropriate pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profile for short-course therapy (eg, 5 days) without loss of either clinical or bacteriologic efficacy. Short-course therapy for CARTIs (such as acute bacterial maxillary sinusitis, acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, community-acquired pneumonia) has been demonstrated to be effective with antibiotics from several different classes, including the ketolide antimicrobials.

Published Online, June 29, 2004. www.theannals.com, DOI 10.1345/aph.1E219