Antibiotic resistance might owe its prevalence to the 10 million unwarranted antibiotic prescriptions pediatricans give to kids each year, according to a study from the University of Utah.
One in every five visits resulted in an antibiotic prescription, a quarter of which were intended for ailments such as the flu, asthma and allergies, for which antibiotics don't do any good and may do harm, according to lead researcher Dr. Adam Hersh.
Half of the drugs were broad-spectrum antibiotics, which "kill more of the good bacteria in our bodies and can set the child up for infections with antibiotic resistant bacteria down the road," Hersh told Reuters Health.
The study looked at almost 65,000 outpatient visits by kids under 18 from 2006 through 2008. Researchers used medical codes to determine the childrens' diagnosis and what kind of drugs pediatricians prescribed to treat it.
According to Reuters, eliminating non-harmful bacteria in the intestines has been linked to asthma and obesity, and raises the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections for the whole society. In some cases, said Hersh, doctors may prescribe antibiotics when the diagnosis is unclear, such as an ear infection. He recommends a "wait and see" approach.
"If your doctor suggests an antibiotic prescription, for instance for an ear infection, ask how certain the diagnosis is. If the diagnosis is still a little unclear, ask if it would be safe to wait a day or two with close follow up rather than starting the antibiotic right away," Hersh told Reuters.
The study appeared online Nov. 7 in the journal Pediatrics.
