Abstract
Acute respiratory tract infections are one of the most common reasons that result in general practitioner consultations. Viruses are the most common cause of both upper- and lower respiratory tract infections, however pneumonia is usually bacterial in origin. When from a bacterial origin, S. pneumoniae non-typical H. influenzae and M. catarrhalis are mostly the cause of acute otitis media, acute bacterial rhinosinusitis and acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, while S. pyogenes are usually the presenting organisms in acute pharyngotonsillitis. B. pertussis, C. pneumoniae or M. pneumoniae are common organisms associated with acute bronchitis and community-acquired pneumonia (atypical). Pneumonia is a serious life-threatening condition, and organisms mostly associated with it include S. pneumoniae, S. aureus, H. influenzae type b, K. pneumoniae, Legionella species or P. jirovecii. Common symptoms and signs include coughing, facial pain, fever, nasal congestion, sore throat, dyspnoea, and tachypnoea. Most of the acute uncomplicated respiratory tract infections are self-limiting in nature. It is in many instances a challenge to distinguish between acute bronchitis and pneumonia because of the similarity in presenting symptoms. Antibiotics are in many instances inappropriately prescribed to treat the infections resulting in the burden of antibiotic resistance patterns within the community. Treatment options are usually amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid or the 2nd or 3rd generation cephalosporins.
Highlights
Acute respiratory tract infections are one of the most common reasons that result in general practitioner consultations
B. pertussis, C. pneumoniae or M. pneumoniae are common organisms associated with acute bronchitis and community-acquired pneumonia
The causes of most upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and acute bronchitis are viral in nature, with bacteria responsible for less than 10% of these infections.[1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9]
Summary
Acute respiratory tract infections are one of the most common reasons that result in general practitioner consultations. Antibiotic therapy is recommended under the following conditions: bulging tympanum, temperature > 38oC, worsening of symptoms, AOM patients with limited access to healthcare, recurrent AOM, immunocompromised patients, neonates, structural ENT www.tandfonline.com/oemd 8 The page number in the footer is not for bibliographic referencing abnormalities, immunological abnormalities, pain > 48 hours, children in day care or siblings of children that attend day care facilities.[6] Treatment options include amoxicillin, amoxicillinclavulanic acid, cephalosporins or macrolides/azalides, and treatment duration is 5 or 7 days (Table I).[1,4,5,6,7,12,14,15,16] This condition is caused by inflammation of the pharyngeal wall. Initial empiric treatment will depend on the patient’s age, treatment setting, comorbid diseases, drug allergies and antibiotic usage within the previous 90 days (Table I).[1,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,21,23,24,25,26]
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