Antibiotics: Doctors continue to prescribe them, even when they shouldn鈥檛
Published on Saturday, February 10, 2007; by Healthy News Service
Just as dogs bury bones, and footballers fall over in the penalty area, and buses don鈥檛 turn up when you鈥檙e in a hurry, so doctors prescribe antibiotics.
It鈥檚 become part of their social patter, as witnessed in conversation openers such as: 鈥淧leased to meet you, do have an antibiotic鈥? or 鈥淐an I mix you a cocktail, or would you prefer an antibiotic?鈥?
A new study reminds us of this strange reflex. It鈥檚 found that 90 per cent of all flu patients are given an antibiotic.
We all know that antibiotics fight bacterial infections, while it鈥檚 usually a virus that sets off influenza. Even doctors know this, but they just can鈥檛 help themselves.
In the study, which involved 166 flu patients, doctors knew there were no bacterial complications 鈥?and yet they still prescribed antibiotics in almost every case.
Perhaps they were just trying to be friendly.
(Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, web release, 22 January 2007).
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