SETTING A district hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). OBJECTIVES To assess antibiotic prescribing practices in the out-patient department in summer (August 2013) and winter (January 2014). DESIGN Cross-sectional study, using routinely collected hospital data and using World Health Organization (WHO) defined daily dose (DDD) methodology. RESULTS An...

In a previous issue of the European Respiratory Journal STEVENS et al. [1] suggested that preschool children with wheeze account for a significant proportion of the UK healthcare budget. Most preschool wheezing is caused by viral infection and, therefore, we wondered how much preschool children with upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) without wheeze would cost the National Health Service? ...

Propolis and royal jelly (RJ), two important honeybee products, have been used commonly all over the world as traditional and ethnopharmacological nutrients since ancient times. Both of them have a lot of active ingredients which are known to be effective for several medical conditions. In this article, medical databases were searched for the usage of RJ and propolis in upper respiratory tract ...

Athletes engaged in strenuous training might experience transient immune suppression that could lead to greater incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). Since interleukin 21 (IL-21) stimulates immunoglobulin A (IgA) secreting cells and a low level of this immunoglobulin is associated with increased incidence of URTI, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of a...

This paper examines whether physical activity influences immune function as a consequence risk of infection from the common cold and other upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and whether the immune system responds differently to moderate versus intense physical exertion. Research indicates that people who participate in regular moderate exercise report fewer colds than their sedentary pee...

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are common in children. The cause of URTIs is usually viral, but mothers' knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) often contribute to inappropriate use of antibiotics, and thus promoting antibiotic resistance. Objective: To investigate maternal knowledge, attitude and practice of antibiotics use in children with acute upper respiratory infec...

BACKGROUND The immune system declines in efficiency with advancing age, making the elderly less resistant to pathogenic microorganisms. Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is a common illness. Recent studies have shown that suppression of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) is associated with increased incidence of URTI. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of exercise on salivary SIgA in elderl...

OBJECTIVES To determine the use of antibiotics by primary care doctors. METHODS General practitioners in Hong Kong were invited to fill in a short questionnaire on every patient with infection that they had seen on the first full working day once every three months for four consecutive quarters starting from December 2005. RESULTS Forty six primary care doctors took part and a total of 3096...

The clinical studies on the effectiveness of homeopathy in respiratory allergy (18 randomized trials and 9 observational studies) are described. The literature of common immunologic disorders including also upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and otorhinolaryngology (reported in part 1), is evaluated and discussed. Most of initial evidence-based research was addressed to the question of w...

BACKGROUND Many people with sore throat seek, and are often inappropriately prescribed, antibiotics. AIM The objective of this study was to determine the analgesic efficacy of flurbiprofen 8.75 mg microgranules versus placebo. These microgranules are a possible alternative treatment for patients with sore throat due to upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). DESIGN AND SETTING Randomised,...