Physicians across US Prescribing Unnecessary Antibiotics for Sore Throat, Bronchitis

Most people don't need antibiotics for common illnesses such as a sore throat. Yet, a surprising number of physicians across the U.S. continue to prescribe antibiotics to patients with sore throat and acute bronchitis, a recent study reported.

Inappropriate use of antibiotics makes microbes resistant to the medicines. For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been trying to educate physicians and the public against the misuse of common antibiotics. But, a recent study conducted by researchers Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found that people still use antibiotics for sore throat.

"We know that antibiotic prescribing, particularly to patients who are not likely to benefit from it, increases the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a growing concern both here in the United States and around the world," said Jeffrey Linder, , a physician and researcher in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at BWH and senior author of the study.

For the study, the scientists looked at data from national representative surveys from 1996 to 2010. They found that the rate of antibiotic prescription for adults in the U.S. was 60 percent. The survey had data on more than 39 million bronchitis and 92 million sore throat visits to primary health care centres.

Generally, sore throat and acute bronchitis can't be treated with antibiotics because in many cases a virus is responsible for the infection. Antibiotics are used to treat strep throat and in the study, just 10 percent had the condition.

"Our research shows that while only 10 percent of adults with sore throat have strep, the only common cause of sore throat requiring antibiotics, the national antibiotic prescribing rate for adults with sore throat has remained at 60 percent. For acute bronchitis, the right antibiotic prescribing rate should be near zero percent and the national antibiotic prescribing rate was 73 percent," Linder said in a news release.

The study results were presented at the IDWeek October 3. The data was published online in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the threat of microbes getting resistant to a drug isn't restricted to a country but is problem faced by the entire world. The U.S., for example, faces some real danger from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).