Antibiotics don’t help lower respiratory tract infections

THE QUESTION When a nagging cough indicates a lower respiratory tract infection, treatment often includes antibiotics such as amoxicillin. Does this actually help?

THIS STUDY involved 2,061 adults (average age, 49) with lower respiratory tract infections, other than pneumonia, who had coughing as a primary symptom. They were randomly assigned to take amoxicillin (1 gram) or a placebo three times a day for a week. Virtually no difference was found between the two groups in how long symptoms lasted or how severe those symptoms were. New symptoms developed in 16 percent of those taking amoxicillin, compared with 19 percent of the others. Side effects, which included nausea, diarrhea and a rash, were more common in the amoxicillin group: 29 percent vs. 24 percent of those taking the placebo. Three people were hospitalized, two from the placebo group and one taking amoxicillin.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? Adults with lower respiratory tract infections, such as bronchitis, which generally have coughing as the telltale sign. Although occasional coughing is normal, persistent coughing may signal a respiratory infection.

CAVEATS Some of the data came from records kept by the participants. The findings do not apply to people with pneumonia.

FIND THIS STUDY Dec. 19 online issue of the Lancet.

LEARN MORE ABOUT coughs at www.nhlbi.
nih.gov/health. Learn about bronchitis at www.mayoclinic.com (click “Diseases and Conditions”).

The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals. Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a treatment's effectiveness is rarely found in a single study. Anyone considering changing or beginning treatment of any kind should consult with a physician.

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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.

There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.

On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.

Rael
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[rael-science] Antibiotics don’t help lower respiratory tract infections‏

Antibiotics don’t help lower respiratory tract infections

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