PMID: 2097714Jan 1, 1990Paper

Efficacy and safety of antibiotic treatment in relation to treatment time

Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases. Supplementum
S R Norrby

Abstract

Decisions on treatment times with antibiotics are often arbitrary and based on empirical decisions or clinical trials which are too small to exclude even considerable differences between two study groups. Single-dose treatment of uncomplicated cystitis in women has been advocated by many but a careful analysis of available information clearly shows that a single-dose has so far always been inferior to 3-day or greater than 5-day treatment. With trimethoprim-sulphonamide combinations, no further efficacy is gained by increasing the treatment time in uncomplicated cystitis above three days while frequency of side effects increases drastically with extended treatment. In contrast, treatment with beta-lactams, for less than five days seems to result in unacceptable failure rates. In pyelonephritis there are few studies of the efficacy of antibiotic treatment for less than ten days. A comparison of two and six weeks' treatment showed no advantages with the extended time. There has also been a tendency towards reduced treatment times in upper respiratory tract infections such as streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis. However, two studies comparing 10-day treatment to 7-day and 5-day treatments, respectively, have clearly shown that the s...Continue Reading

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