Beyond any reasonable doubt, one of the greatest achievements of medicine in the last century has been the successful reduction of morbidity and mortality due to infectious disease. In 1938, a landmark paper in theEdinburgh Medical Journalby Cookson and Mason1highlighted the high lethality of bronchiectasis even before the fourth decade of life1,2. Thanks to improved hygiene measures and antibiotic treatment, what used to be a fatal disease has now become a chronic disease. The major, scattered lung lesions due to cystic bronchiectasis and often associated with outbreaks of infectious diseases, have given way to smaller, cylindrical bronchiectasis as a consequence of dozens of diseases being able to generate lung damage3. However, far from being an extinct disease, bronchiectasis has emerged with force. The ever increasing lifespan of humans, with more people at risk of developing chronic illnesses with potential to bronchiectasis, and the widespread use of imaging techniques (such as chest high-resolution computed tomography), have increased the burden, particularly in the elderly4,5. But the relevance of bronchiectasis goes beyond its mere presence, as bronchiectasis worsens the prognosis of …