[Duration of treatment of nosocomial pneumonia. What judgement criteria to use?].
AN UNRESOLVED ISSUE: Inappropriate duration of antibiotic treatment is one of the factors explaining the high mortality of nosocomial pneumonia. There are however few data on the ideal duration of treatment. An improvement in the radiological image is not a good criterion. The right duration would be one that is necessary and sufficient to achieve cure and avoid recurrence and relapse and also one that avoids the drawbacks of prolonged treatment. LIMITATIONS OF CLINICAL CRITERIA: High-grade fever, an alveolar image on the chest x-ray, and a high white cell count are synonymous with bacterial pneumonia in only 40 to 60% of the cases. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFECTION: Using reliable microbiological methodology is has been possible to demonstrate that the causal germs of primary infections disappear by day 3 of an adapted treatment but that early secondary infection occurs in 14% of the cases. PROSPECTS FOR PROGRESS: An open multicentric randomized study is being conducted in France to compare 7 day versus 14 day treatment against identified germs (irrespective of the strain isolated) using reliable microbial sampling techniques.
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D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D013997:Time Factors