PEDIATRICS Vol. 105 No. 1 January 2000, pp. 159
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To the Editor.
Bauchner et al1 and others2 have
called attention to injudicious antibiotic use, prompting calls for
physician, as well as parent, reeducation. Confronted with an unhappy
child who may have acute otitis media (AOM) and facing exhausted
parents, physicians may find themselves under pressure to
prescribe.3,4 Excessive prescriptions for antibiotics
increase costs, engender toxicity, and promote relative and absolute
resistance to antimicrobials. More stringent diagnostic criteria,
shorter courses of medication, and