TY - JOUR T1 - Following Nero: fiddle while Rome burns, or is there a better way? JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - 367 LP - 367 DO - 10.1136/thx.2011.160861 VL - 66 IS - 5 AU - Andrew Bush AU - Ian Pavord Y1 - 2011/05/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/66/5/367.abstract N2 - The Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines ‘exacerbation’ as ‘an increase in the severity of a disease’—which does not imply reversibility or otherwise. However, we wonder how many chest physicians define exacerbation as ‘an acute and temporary deterioration in either symptoms or signs (and for the sophisticated, biomarkers)’ of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or whatever. We know that many of our patients do not understand the term; some confuse it with exasperations. The editorial by Mark FitzGerald1 (see page 365) proposes to discard this term in favour of the phrase ‘lung attack’. Is this mere sensationalism or trendy fiddling with what actually works well (as with the Church of England discarding the Book of Common Prayer in favour of … ER -