Antibiotics : using them judiciously

A third of all primary care consultations are due to infectious diseases and more than half of these are due to respiratory tract infections. Respiratory Infections are among the most frequent reasons for prescribing antibiotics even though the maiorIty of upper respiratory tract infections are of viral origin and antibiotics are known to have minimal effect against them. In fact many studies show that over 75% of cases of otitis media and sinusitis and more than half of all pharyngo-tonsillitis and acute bronchitis are treated with antibiotics.peer-reviewe