Tag: overuse of antibiotics

More Data Supports Delayed Antibiotic Prescribing for Kids with respiratory infections

Overuse of antibiotics is a big problem. New data supports delaying that prescription for kids with respiratory infections.

/ April 2, 2021

A Popular Class of Antibiotics May Increase Risk of Birth Defects

A new study in the British Medical Journal has revealed a possible association between taking a popular antibiotic during early pregnancy and major congenital malformations.

/ February 28, 2020

Inappropriate Antibiotic Use is Rampant in U.S. Pediatric Hospitals

A recent study looked at antibiotic use in thousands of hospitalized children and the results weren't great. Too many kids are receiving suboptimal antibiotic prescriptions. One potential solution is an increased focus on, and improved resources for, antibiotic stewardship programs.

/ February 14, 2020

Overprescribing Antibiotics

Recently I had a cutaneous abscess which was treated (quite painfully) with incision and drainage. My doctor told me that antibiotics were not strictly necessary, but I could have them if I wanted. The idea of any treatment that could resolve the abscess more quickly was appealing, but I did not want to contribute to the unnecessary use of antibiotics so I...

/ May 4, 2016

Chronic Lyme Disease – Another Negative Study

While Lyme disease itself is a real and often serious infectious illness, the existence and proper treatment of so-called chronic Lyme disease is dubious, and some would say controversial. However, like many controversies we cover, the science itself is not very controversial, but the topic is made so by a persistent minority of outliers who refuse to accept the scientific consensus. The...

/ April 6, 2016

Why Antibiotic Use Scares Me

Editor’s note: Today we present a guest post from fourth-year medical student Joshua Horton, about the looming problem of antibiotic resistance. Welcome! I read a study recently that alarmed me: acute bronchitis is a condition that rarely requires antibiotics, but three quarters of patients presenting with this condition receive a prescription for antibiotics. Even more worrisome, this statistic has not changed in...

/ March 20, 2016

Hospitals Slow to Adopt Pediatric Pneumonia Guidelines

While it is both easy and fun to point out the inadequacies of unscientific modalities such as chiropractic and homeopathy, our goal at Science-Based Medicine is the application of a single standard to all medical practice, even if it stings a bit. We are far from perfect. While I firmly believe that most conventional healthcare professionals are good people who strive to...

/ December 4, 2015

No, Purell Does Not Breed Super-Anything

Recently, I was sitting in a meeting and reached for the dispenser of Purell hand sanitizer sitting on the conference room table. A colleague of mine gave a small, rueful shake of her head to the person on her other side. Apparently I had erred. I asked what was the matter, and got a brief answer to the effect of “because superbugs.”...

/ November 28, 2015

New Study on Homeopathic Cough Syrup for Children Reveals a Lack of Effectiveness and Ethics

On the pages of SBM we frequently discuss homeopathy, and rightfully so considering its position as one of the most pervasive yet dumbest forms of alternative medicine. Just yesterday our own Scott Gavura, who is neither pervasive nor dumb, wrote an excellent review of some recent improvements in the regulation of these ridiculous remedies in Canada, and I encourage readers to check...

/ August 14, 2015

Antibiotics vs. the Microbiome

In 1850, one in four American babies died before their first birthday, and people of all ages died of bacterial infections that could have been successfully treated today with antibiotics. Unfortunately, treatments that have effects usually have side effects, and we are seeing problems due to the overuse of antibiotics. They are given to people with viral infections for which they are...

/ August 12, 2014