The Role of Infection During Exacerbations of Chronic Bronchitis

Excerpt

In this issue Nicotra and associates (1) report their findings on the use of tetracycline in the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis. The patients studied were ill enough to be hospitalized, but most were not having life-threatening episodes of respiratory failure. The investigation failed to show any objective benefit from the tetracycline therapy as compared with a control group treated without antibiotics. This study must be included among a series of similar reports published over the past 20 years that show marked differences in the final conclusions. In some studies, antibiotics were found to be useful; in this