Patients suffering from bronchitis who were given a widely prescribed antibiotic did no better than patients who took a low dose of vitamin C, which is known to be ineffective in treating bronchitis.
Antibiotics don't work for acute bronchitis. Now we have strong evidence saying that it shouldn't be used for this purpose.
The researchers hoped to test the effectiveness of antibiotics for patients with acute bronchitis. Physicians commonly prescribe antibiotics to treat this condition, but prior studies of whether antibiotics help patients with bronchitis have had mixed results.
At random, the researchers gave 220 patients with acute bronchitis either the antibiotic Zithromax or a dummy pill of low-dose vitamin C, which has been shown to have no effect on bronchitis. The patients were also given standard therapy for bronchitis, including cough syrup and an albuterol inhaler to ease their cough.
The investigators measured whether the patients given the antibiotic showed improvements in their quality of life, such as being able to return to normal activities after a week.
Researchers found that after 7 days, the patients given the antibiotic and those given vitamin C did not differ significantly in their physical improvement and the timing of their return to regular activity.
The patients receiving the antibiotic showed only a slight improvement in coughing and daily activities by the third day of treatment, but those differences disappeared by the seventh day. The authors conclude that antibiotics appear to provide only "transient benefit of little clinical significance," while increasing the risk of side effects and microbial resistance to the medication.
The findings shift the burden of proof to proponents of antibiotics to demonstrate why these drugs should be used in acute bronchitis, the researchers note. In the meantime doctors should not routinely prescribe antibiotics for bronchitis.
If the condition changes and there's suspicion of pneumonia, the patient should be reassessed. Sometimes pneumonia is misdiagnosed as acute bronchitis.
The Lancet May 11, 2002;359:1648-1654
Anyone reading this newsletter will know that antibiotics are frequently abused and overused and result in many avoidable complications.
Fortunately more people are recognizing that they are not always the miracle drug unless they are needed. Normally, very high fevers over 102 and coughing up green, not yellow-green, sputum or mucus, is a good clue that you would benefit from them.
If one does need an antibiotic, the Zithromax used in the study is my absolute favorite as it is kills so many pathogens and normally is only required for five days. The once a day dosing really improves compliance.
I have been regularly impressed though with the ability of hydrogen peroxide to provide amazingly consistent results in these types of circumstances. It is dirt cheap and non-toxic which are two great things going for it.
It is certainly something worth trying in addition to the life-style measures of water as your only fluid, avoidance of all sugar, plenty of rest, and refined abilities to tolerate stress.
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