Principles of Appropriate Antibiotic Use for Acute Pharyngitis in Adults

*This paper, written by Vincenza Snow, MD, Christel Mottur-Pilson, PhD, Richelle J. Cooper, MD, MSHS, and Jerome R. Hoffman, MD, MA, was developed for the Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee: David C. Dale, MD (Chair); Patricia P. Barry, MD; William E. Golden, MD; Robert D. McCartney, MD; Keith W. Michl, MD; Allan R. Ronald, MD; Sean R. Tunis, MD; Kevin B. Weiss, MD; and Preston L. Winters, MD. Approved by the Board of Regents on 16 July 2000.

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Note: Clinical practice guidelines are “guides” only and may not apply to all patients and all clinical situations. Thus, they are not intended to override clinicians' clinical judgment. All clinical practice guidelines from the American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine are considered automatically withdrawn or invalid 5 years after publication or once an update has been issued.

Grant Support: Dr. Cooper is supported in part by a National Research Service Award (F32 HS00134-01) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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Current Author Addresses: Drs. Snow and Mottur-Pilson: American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

Drs. Cooper and Hoffman: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 924 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024.