[Treatment of upper respiratory tract infections].

Today most upper respiratory tract infections are mild and of short duration with minor risk of complications. Hence, the effects of antibiotic treatment are marginal. The only and most important reason for treatment is to stop dissemination. Penicillin V should be the first drug of choice. A review of the literature about antibiotic treatment of upper respiratory tract infections shows that most published studies exclude two categories of patients: children below the age of 6 months and patients who are severely ill. Therefore, there is an additional need for further studies focused on select groups of patients to investigate the benefit, if any, of antibiotic treatment as well as to study the effect of introducing near-patient-tests and the use of extended microbiological service in daily clinical practice.