NICE Gives Guidelines for COPD Antimicrobial Treatments

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence released draft guidance on the use of antimicrobials for managing acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The guidance recommends amoxicillin, doxycycline, clarithromycin and erythromycin as first choice oral antibiotics. If the first choice treatment does not provide improvements in symptoms after being taken for at least two to three days, another first choice should be tried from a different class.

For severely unwell patients or those with a higher risk of resistance, NICE recommends using either co-amoxiclav, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin or co-trimoxazole in varying dosages and frequencies as alternative treatments.