Antibiotic therapy has been shown to be of no value in the treatment of the URI--either in shortening the course of the acute illness or in preventing the development of secondary bacterial infections. Patient expense, as well as the threat of adverse reactions, should prohibit the present practice by some of routinely prescribing tetracycline, erythromycin, and ampicillin. Indiscriminate antibiotic therapy cannot substitute for proper diagnostic evaluation of the patient who may have either a bacterial or, far more likely, a viral illness.
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Soyka et al. (1975) studied this question.