For the great majority of colds, sore throats, coughs, sinusitis and bronchitis, doctors should not prescribe antibiotics. And patients shouldn t ask for them. Respiratory infections generally last two to three weeks and then go away, whether they are treated with antibiotics or not. The myth, she says, is perpetuated by patients who, after feeling miserable for a week or so, finally seek out a doctor and ask for an antibiotic. When the infection resolves itself a week or two later, they assume the antibiotic worked.
Doctors know better.
They learn in medical school that antibiotics have no effect on the viruses that cause most upper respiratory infections. But they write millions of useless prescriptions a year anyway - often just to satisfy patients who demand them. Although a few conditions such as severe or persistent bacterial sinusitis or the small percentage of strep A infections that are likely to result in complications may warrant antibiotic therapy, Fryhofer says such cases are rare. The notion that antibiotic treatment may keep a nonspecific upper respiratory tract infection from getting worse. Most patients would be better off taking simple aspirin, cough suppressants and getting some rest.