Evaluation of orally administered antibiotics for treatment of upper respiratory infections in Thai children

The clinical responses of children with upper respiratory infections to 1 of 3 treatment regimens (tetracycline, penicillin, and placebo) were evaluated in relation to the bacterial and viral pathogens cultured from nasopharyngeal swabs. The 3 treatment groups were similar in size and in the frequency and type of pathogens recovered. The groups did not differ in their response to the treatment regimens in terms of mean duration of fever, failure to improve, the development of complications, or the persistance of bacterial pathogens in the nasopharynx.