Antibiotic Therapy in Cystic Fibrosis

Evaluation of Efficacy

¹ Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Hospital Saint-Pierre, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.

Improvement in overall clinical status is the primary goal of treatment of pulmonary exacerbations in CF and therefore the main criterion by which treatment regimens should be evaluated. Clinical scoring systems to more objectively define the patient's status at initiation and completion of therapy, and double-blind trial designs reduce bias in the evaluation of outcome. Assessment of the contribution of antibiotic therapy to outcome requires greater understanding of the role of bacterial infection in the pathogenesis of pulmonary exacerbations and could be improved by the development of quantifiable markers in respiratory secretions for inflammation.