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Review
. 2023 Jan 28;12(2):267.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12020267.

How to Use Nebulized Antibiotics in Severe Respiratory Infections

Julie Gorham  1 , Fabio S Taccone  1 , Maya Hites  2
Affiliations
Review

How to Use Nebulized Antibiotics in Severe Respiratory Infections

Julie Gorham et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Difficult-to-treat pulmonary infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens are of great concern because their incidence continues to increase worldwide and they are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Nebulized antibiotics are increasingly being used in this context. The advantages of the administration of a nebulized antibiotic in respiratory tract infections due to MDR include the potential to deliver higher drug concentrations to the site of infection, thus minimizing the systemic adverse effects observed with the use of parenteral or oral antibiotic agents. However, there is an inconsistency between the large amount of experimental evidence supporting the administration of nebulized antibiotics and the paucity of clinical studies confirming the efficacy and safety of these drugs. In this narrative review, we describe the current evidence on the use of nebulized antibiotics for the treatment of severe respiratory infections.

Keywords: nebulized antibiotic; pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic; respiratory tract infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A simplified approach explaining the use of inhaled antibiotics for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. Inhaled antibiotics will provide very high drug concentrations (CDRUG) in the alveolar space, which by far exceed the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the pathogen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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