Empiric Therapy Overview

Empiric therapy is a medical term referring to the initiation of treatment prior to determination of a firm diagnosis. It is most often used when antibiotics are given to a person before the specific microorganism causing an infection is known. Examples of this include antibiotics given for pneumonia,urinary tract infections, and suspected bacterial meningitis in newborns aged 0 to 6 months. Empiric antibiotics are typically broad-spectrum, in that they treat...