Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections. They don’t treat viruses. Most of the parents in our practice know that so they understand when we don’t treat colds with amoxicillin. Medical providers are paying more attention to prescribing antibiotics. We’ve seen the rise of antibiotic resistant infections and it scares us. I don’t want to ever look at a parent’s face and say that we don’t have any options left. This is serious stuff. But did you know that 80% of the current antibiotics are not used in a doctor’s office but used in livestock? (According to the FDA) From what I’ve read, they’re used to promote faster growth and compensate for sometimes unsanitary conditions. And did you know that someone is out there paying attention to this? In a Medscape article, burger chains were given grades based on beef raised without antibiotics. Only 2 chains earned top ratings- Shake shake and Burger Fi. They’re both in Dallas, I checked!
  In the article, all of the familiar names received an “F” including: Sonic, Whataburger, McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in the Box…the list was quite extensive. Some of the companies are addressing the issue. A McDonald’s rep was quoted as saying..” In 2016, McDonald’s fully implemented its pledge to no longer serve chicken treated with antibiotics important to human medicine in its US restaurants, which lead to the 2018 implementation of an antibiotic use policy for broiler chicken in markets around the globe. McDonald’s is currently finalizing a global antibiotic policy for beef, to begin rollout before the end of 2018.”

Thank goodness change is coming!

Susan Badaracco MD, pediatrician and author of “The Oath” series.