Atypical antibiotics alone seem no better for mortality and clinical efficacy than typical antibiotics alone in patients with community acquired pneumonia

Abstract

What is this? Some patients with COVID-19 will develop pneumonia and evidence from studies of the treatment of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) may be of help in treating such patients. CAP is a serious lung infection, usually treated with antibiotics. Two types of bacteria cause CAP: ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’, each requiring a different type of antibiotic, but initial treatment of CAP is usually empirical, using a drug that covers both typical and atypical bacteria. In this Cochrane systematic review, the authors searched for randomized or quasi-randomized trials comparing antibiotic regimens containing atypical antibiotics versus those that had typical coverage only. They did not restrict by language of publication and did their searches in April 2012. They included 28 studies (5939 patients).