Published 18 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1144
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1144

Letters

Antibiotics for coughs and colds

Hello, virus

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the treatment of "chest infections" do not adequately tackle these patients’ symptoms and the need for the anti-asthma treatment that will benefit many of them.1 Furthermore, because of continuing symptoms, such patients will continue to pressurise for antibiotics, given that they have been told they have a "chest infection" but have been given no treatment for the resulting symptoms. May I suggest that the term "chest infection" is unhelpful and misleading, and it is more useful to stick to symptoms. Therefore cough, chest tightness, wheeze, shortness of breath, and light green sputum do not warrant antibiotics and often respond to anti-asthma treatment. Again, fever, once the acute viral infection has passed, being unwell, lack of appetite, require an antibiotic. What do you call these two very different illnesses? What about "viral induced chestiness" for the first and . . . [Full text of this article]

Rod A Storring, community consultant chest physician1

1 Barking and Dagenham Primary Care Trust, Barking, Essex IG11 8EY

r.storring@googlemail.com


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Relevant Article

Commentary: Controversies in NICE guidance on antibiotic prescribing for self limiting respiratory tract infections in primary care
Christopher C Butler and Nicholas Francis
BMJ 2008 337: a656. [Extract] [Full Text]

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