Those who know me, know that I have a personal vendetta against Big Pharma and their pocket doctors. What was once a noble endeavour to help humanity has turned into a blatant corporate machine to bilk us out of money by the billions per year. They are accused by many scientists and doctors of inventing illnesses to fit the new drugs they’ve created (most of which have possible horrific side-effects that dwarf the original “illness”). It is the same with antibiotics.
The common view that antibiotics are a “magic bullet” against any illness is pervasive due to a combination of myth, misinformation, and marketing by Big Pharma. The reality is we’re hurting ourselves badly by downing antibiotics as a pez-like cure-all as any responsible (or competent) doctor would inform you, and which scientists have been trying to get through to us for years as they see their arsenal against bacteriums that are normally cured by antibiotics dwindle to almost nothing. Antibiotics are primarily for use against bacterial illnesses not viral ones. There is a growing list of bacteriums now that are completely drug resistant.
Personally, I think doctors who prescribe antibiotics for virus related illness, especially common ones like colds, the flu, bronchitis, etc, etc, etc… should be formally reprimanded and face some sort of fine. It’s criminal, in my view, that doctors hand out these prescriptions merely because of pressure from the patient. The fact remains that they are hurting us all by taking the lazy way as opposed to informing (and refusing) patients who demand antibiotics out of ignorance. I mean, what kind of doctor would bow to pressure from the damn patient??? Who’s the expert? Grow a spine already.
Read it all from the experts:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/GetSmart/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/antibiotics.html