The Dutch College of General Practitioners' guidelines specify that antibiotics should only be used for severe cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, GPs tend to administer antibiotics rather than a short course of steroid treatment regardless of severity.
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Tropical Medicine and AIDS, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. i.roede@amc.uva.nl
