Acute and exacerbated chronic respiratory tract infections: treatment with a combination of cefuroxime and acetylcysteine.

Sixty-five patients, 25 with acute bronchopulmonary respiratory tract diseases and 40 with acute exacerbations of chronic respiratory tract infections, were treated by means of intramuscular injection of an extempore combination of 1 g of cefuroxime and 300 mg of acetylcysteine. Patients were divided into two groups according to the acute or chronic nature of their respiratory tract diseases. Positive clinical results were obtained in 62 of the 65 patients. Of a total of 52 pathogens isolated in pretreatment bacteriological tests on sputum cultures, only three were still detectable after treatment. Tolerance of the treatment was good in all patients, no side-effects of any kind being observed.