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Roger A. M. J. Damoiseaux, MD, PhD

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Procalcitonin (PCT) levels might be a future help in guiding antibiotic therapy for acute respiratory tract infections in primary care. Briel et al¹ have shown that antibiotic prescriptions can be reduced substantially by using procalcitonin levels without harm for the patients. In primary care, however, the effects of antibiotics for acute respiratory tract infections have proven to be minimal. Any test, such as a coin flip or throwing dice, could have given the same results. This was shown already when the C-reactive protein test was used to reduce antibiotic prescriptions for acute sinusitis in primary care.²

But for PCT, it is known that levels are higher in bacterial infections compared with viral infections or mere inflammation. Furthermore, former studies^3-4 of this group with more severe infections showed the same results as this trial in primary care. This study certainly is a proof of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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