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Acute cough illness, in contrast to chronic or persistent cough, is defined as lasting less than 3 weeks. Acute upper respiratory tract infection accounted for approximately 70% of primary diagnoses in adults presenting for an ambulatory office visit with a chief symptom of cough. Asthma and pneumonia were the next most common diagnoses, assigned to 6% and 5% of patients respectively. The predominance of cough and accompanying clinical features suggestive of an acute upper respiratory tract infection, such as sore throat or rhinorrhea, is usually used to distinguish bronchitis from other acute upper respiratory tract infections. Principle 2: Routine antibiotic treatment of uncomplicated acute bronchitis is not recommended, regardless of duration of cough. In a randomised double-blind trial of doxycycline in acute bronchitis, mean duration of cough was 10.8 days in the placebo group versus 9.4 days in the antibiotic group — a difference of no clinical importance. Antibiotic treatment does not appear to hasten resolution of symptoms if it is initiated 7 to 10 days after onset of illness. Because of the public health implications of pertussis, antibiotic treatment of suspected pertussis should always be accompanied by appropriate public health measures.