Antibiotics Weblog

Antibiotics (drugs used to treat bacterial infections) are overwhelmingly misprescribed in the United States.  Despite congressional hearings and numerous academic studies on this issue, it has become the general consensus that 40 to 60% of all antibiotics in this country are misprescribed. New studies continue to confirm the fact that a large proportion of antibiotic prescribing for both children and adults continues to be inappropriate. To put it simply, a large proportion of antibiotics are prescribed in situations in which the infection cannot be treated by any antibiotic, or another, more effective and appropriate antibiotic should be used instead. This should be a major concern, since the misprescribing of antibiotics poses some real dangers to the population at large, as well as to the individuals taking them, especially older adults.