Dr Sjoerd Zwart from the University Medical Center Utrecht and colleagues studied a total of 561 patients aged 15 to 60 years with a sore throat for less than seven days and they found that in those patients taking penicillin for seven days symptoms resolved between 1.9 and 1.7 days earlier than those not taking the same course of penicillin. A streptococci the authors found that symptoms resolved 2.5 days earlier with a seven day course. They found that penicillin was also effective in patients with bacteria other than group A streptococci. Zwart et al report that a three day penicillin course was not effective in treating acute sore throat and even tended towards an increased recurrence rate in the following six months. In the course of monitoring the current medical literature, our staff at the Center for Current Research is occasionally struck by a project so promising that it should be shared with everyone.
Streptococcal pharyngitis is a common infection in children and adolescents.
The great majority of these infections are caused by group A beta-haemolytic streptococci. A beta-haemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis has reduced the incidence of rheumatic fever, in the past decade several studies of pharyngitis treatment have reported penicillin failure. It has also been suggested that in comparison with the penicillins the cephalosporins are associated with a lower rate of clinical failure. Cephalosporins have drawbacks in cost, administration frequency or adverse effect profile. Erythromycin is a traditional alternative to penicillins, especially in penicillin-allergic patients, for the treatment of tonsillopharyngitis.