title: Short-duration therapy for respiratory tract infections.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University Medical Center, 410 W. 10th Ave., 368 Doan Hall, Columbus, OH 43210-1240, USA. Goff-1@medctr.osu.edu
authors.forename: Debra A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Goff
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents