Duration of Therapy and Treatment Failure Until recently, there was little incentive to establish the most appropriate duration of treatment; patients were instructed to take a 7- or 10-day course of treatment for most common infections. A number of recent investigations have evaluated shorter durations of therapy, especially in patients with communityacquired pneumonia. Table 127-10 lists common bacterial infections for which treatment duration guidelines have been established or for which there is sufficient clinical experience to establish treatment durations. The ultimate test of cure for a bacterial infection is the absence of relapse when therapy is discontinued. Relapse is defined.
