Pediatricians have been encouraging their colleagues to prescribe antibiotics judiciously for children. A new study of nearly 65,000 outpatient visits by children found that too many youngsters are being given antibiotics for conditions that aren’t caused by bacteria, like allergies, asthma or the flu. An antibiotic was prescribed at 20 percent of the visits studied, with about half of those prescriptions written for broad-spectrum antibiotics. About one-fourth of the prescriptions were written for children in whom there was not a clear bacterial infection. Because overuse can contribute to antibiotic resistance, experts once again advise against such drugs when they are not warranted.
[Pediatrics, Nov. 7, 2011]
1/17/19 redirected to: https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/how-serious-is-the-problem-of-inappropriate-antibiotics/
