Bronchitis more resistant to antibiotics

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- First-line antibiotics such as amoxicillin and ampicillin are becoming ineffective in treating chronic bronchitis, U.S. and Greek researchers say.

Second-line antibiotic use in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis is becoming greater because of an increase in first-line drug resistance among those with chronic bronchitis, reported a study published in the journal Chest.

To compare the effectiveness of first- and second-line antibiotics, researchers evaluated patients with acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis from 12 randomized control trials.

The researchers found that second-line antibiotics were more effective and that there was no difference in mortality or safety, when compared with first-line antibiotics, the study said.