USE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN NONBACTERIAL RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS

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Abstract
The discovery of the sulfonamides and antibiotics is one of the most brilliant pages in the history of medicine. Many bacterial and rickettsial diseases that formerly were fatal are now treated successfully with antibiotics in a relatively short time. The outstanding success with bacterial and rickettsial infections has not been paralleled in the antibiotic treatment of viral diseases. Antibiotics are effective against the viruses that cause psittacosis, lymphogranuloma venereum, and trachoma and appear to be of value in the treatment of viral pneumonias.1 It is generally conceded, however, that the use of antibiotics in acute nonbacterial respiratory infections and influenza is of no benefit in the treatment of the primary disease.2 The most important viral-like conditions with regard to incidence and economic importance are moderately severe, acute illnesses that are loosely grouped with certain bacterial conditions as acute respiratory infections. During outbreaks of so-called acute respiratory infection simultaneous