One of the biggest looming threats to humanity's future is a monster of our own inadvertent creation. This isn't a summer superhero movie plot. It's the frightening reality of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and other microbes, which arise over time as more bugs are exposed to more drugs, and evolve resistance to their effects.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery published a guideline in 2011 recommending that “clinicians should not routinely administer or prescribe perioperative antibiotics to children undergoing tonsillectomies.”
Jeffrey S. Gerber, MD, PhD, recently received an approximately $1.8 million contract from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to compare the effectiveness of broad and narrow-spectrum antibiotics in treating acute respiratory infections.
A recent study of an "antimicrobial stewardship" program by Children's Hospital researchers found that offering pediatricians education, and auditing their prescription patterns, can encourage them to choose more appropriate antibiotics for children with common respiratory infections. The study encompassed nearly 1.3 million office visits by some 185,000 patients.
