Antibiotics Use And Stewardship

Summary

For a real bacterial infection, antibiotics are one of medicine's clearest net-positives and you should not hesitate or "tough it out" — but a large share of antibiotics are prescribed for infections that are viral or self-limiting, fluoroquinolones in particular carry serious drug-specific harms the FDA spent a decade catching up to, and the honest play is to use them when genuinely needed, push for the narrowest-spectrum option, avoid them when the illness is viral, and prevent the infections you can. ---