In the Procalcitonin Antibiotic Consensus Trial (ProACT), the use of a procalcitonin-guided antibiotic prescription guideline did not result in less exposure to antibiotics than did usual care among patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with suspected lower respiratory tract infection. Overuse of antibiotics is common in infections of the lower respiratory tract, where bacterial and viral infections manifest similarly. Procalcitonin is a peptide with levels that are more typically elevated in bacterial than in viral infections; the magnitude of the elevation correlates with the severity of infection, and decreasing levels over time correlate with the resolution of infection.

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