RESEARCH The cultural beliefs and practice of obtaining antimicro- bial drugs without prescriptions, particularly for what are likely viral respiratory infections, is reflected in the antimi- crobial drug use patterns of the Latino community in this United States. Health beliefs and practices that were instilled in their countries of origin appear to be main- tained even after living in the United States, as the relative- ly high frequency of acquisition of nonprescription antimicrobial drugs in the United States demonstrates. As previous research has shown, persons born in the United States are less likely to acquire antimicrobial drugs with- out a prescription within the United States (16). In fact, none of the Latino respondents born in the United States had acquired antimicrobial drugs without a prescription in the United States. Thus, a special emphasis with patient education should be made to target this population to instill health beliefs that are more consistent with those proposed by the US medical and public health communities. An additional issue that may play a role in the ability to encourage appropriate use of antimicrobial drugs in this community are problems associated with access to health care. More than 90% of the respondents reported that they had no health insurance. Although health insurance was not a distinguishing variable, common reasons given by the respondents for both importation and acquisition of nonprescribed antimicrobial drugs in the United States revolved around the economics of doctor visits and costs of medication in the United States. A lack of health insur- ance may encourage Latinos to self-medicate with antimi- crobial drugs. Our findings should be interpreted within the context of several limitations to our study. First, the sample was recruited from a single mid-sized community, thereby lim- iting the generalizability of the results. However, many areas in the United States have seen recent large increases in the Latino population. These new communities may reflect different practices than communities that have had generations of Latino immigrants (e.g., Miami, New York, San Antonio). A second limitation concerns the location of data collection. By focusing on persons who sought treat- ment at a health clinic, Latinos who may not access care in the formal health care system would not be represented in this study. Those persons could be even more likely to acquire antimicrobial drugs without a prescription. A 886 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 11, No. 6, June 2005