TY - JOUR T1 - Short course penicillin for treating patients with pharyngotonsillitis JF - BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine JO - BMJ EBM DO - 10.1136/bmjebm-2019-111314 SP - bmjebm-2019-111314 AU - Annette Pluddemann AU - Carl Heneghan Y1 - 2020/02/25 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/02/24/bmjebm-2019-111314.abstract N2 - Sore throat is a common reason for antibiotic prescribing. This trial assesses whether a four times per day for five days versus three times per day for 10 days course of antibiotics can be prescribed while maintaining clinical efficacy.EBM Verdict:EBM Verdict on: Penicillin V four times daily for five days versus three times daily for 10 days in patients with pharyngotonsillitis caused by group A streptococci: randomised controlled, open label, non-inferiority study. BMJ 2019;367:l5337. doi: 10.1136/bmj.l5337.A 5-day course of penicillin appears to be as effective as a 10-day course for pharyngotonsillitis with fewer side effects for patients.Penicillin is the preferred first-choice antibiotic treatment for adults and children with tonsillopharyngitis.1 Usual treatment advice involves a 10-day course of phenoxymethylpenicillin (penicillin V).Advice to take and complete longer courses of antibiotics is largely based on avoiding serious complications; however, in developed countries, complications of tonsillitis such as acute rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis are very rare.2 A previous Cochrane review of 20 studies including 13 102 children with acute streptococcal pharyngitis showed that 3–6 days of late-generation antibiotics, including oral penicillin V, … ER -