ISSN: 2044-9038 (Print) 2044-9046 (Electronic)

Clinical Practice

Respiratory Tract Infection

 Excerpt. tract infection (RTI) is defined as any communicable disease of the upper or lower tract . Upper tract infections (URTIs) include the cold , laryngitis, pharyngitis/tonsillitis, acute rhinitis, acute rhinosinusitis and acute otitis .Respiratory tract infection (RTI) is defined as any communicable disease of the upper or lower tract . Upper tract infections (URTIs) include the cold , laryngitis, pharyngitis/tonsillitis, acute rhinitis, acute rhinosinusitis and acute otitis . Lower tract infections (LRTIs) include acute bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia and tracheitis. Antibiotics are commonly prescribed for RTIs in adults and youngsters in medical care . General practice consultation rates in England and Wales show that 1 / 4 of the population will visit their GP due to an RTI annually (Ashworth et al. 2005). RTIs are the rationale for 60% of all antibiotic prescribing generally practice, and this constitutes a big cost to the NHS. Annual prescribing costs for acute cough alone exceed £15 million . There is evidence from randomised placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) that antibiotics have limited efficacy in treating an outsized proportion of RTIs in adults and youngsters . These include acute otitis (AOM), acute cough/acute bronchitis, acute sore throat/acute pharyngitis/acute tonsillitis, acute rhinosinusitis and therefore the cold . These conditions are largely self-limiting and complications are likely to be rare if antibiotics are withheld. Therefore, these five common RTIs are the main target of this guideline. The inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics has the potential to cause drug-related adverse events, escalate the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms within the community and increase medical care consultation rates for minor illness.

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