Fewer doctors are incorrectly prescribing antibiotics, but federal experts still say too many pediatricians uselessly prescribe the bacteria fighters against viral illnesses.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 25 percent decline in how often doctors use antibiotics against sore throats, colds and upper respiratory infections — common illnesses that are considered viral and therefore immune to an anti-bacterial threat.
Nearly 60 percent of antibiotics prescribed in office settings in 2007-08 were given to patients with viral maladies such as ear infections, bronchitis and other respiratory infections — an “inappropriately high” rate, according to the federal agency.
“We still have a long way to go,” said Dr. Lauri Hicks, a CDC epidemiologist who worked on the study, released earlier this month by the agency.
Unlike bacterial infections, viruses can’t be fixed in the medicine-vaporizes-sickness sense. They leave a child’s system to fight the infection on its own. Until the body nudges the virus out, doctors can only control symptoms with medicines such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, upsetting parents looking for an easy cure.