This message seems to keep getting garbled because patients can begin with a viral infection and develop a secondary bacterial infection. Antibiotics are right for bacterial infections and absolutely worthless for viral ones.

The editor’s notes accompanying this item say that nearly all of the children with bacterial infections recovered, regardless of the treatment they received. That should reassure parents.

However, parents also need to trust their instincts. They know the child best.

Medpage Today

“Up to one-third of children with febrile bacterial infections failed to receive antibiotics in a large emergency department, while 20% of youngsters without such infections received antibiotics unnecessarily, Australian researchers said.”

Source: Medpage Today, April 21, 2010

Citation:Primary source: BMJ 2010; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.c1594.