OPINION

CDC takes "Get Smart" message to consumers: Antibiotics won't cure flu

Some patients believe antibiotics cure everything. A new campaign reinforces physician efforts to use these medicines appropriately.

Editorial. Oct. 27, 2003.

Snort. Sniffle. Sneeze. But no antibiotics please.

That's the message of a new national consumer education program to make Americans more aware of when antibiotic treatment is warranted.

The AMA wants the public to hear this message.

With flu season fast approaching, it is imperative that patients understand when these germ fighters will work and when they won't. That's why this initiative -- the Get Smart campaign -- was launched last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with support from the AMA, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics and other health organizations.

Over the last decade, almost every type of bacteria has become increasingly resilient against antibiotic treatment -- mostly because these vital medicines are being used when they are not needed. Now more than ever, the watchwords that patients must understand and that physicians must enforce are "judicious use."

Physicians already know that antibiotics are not an effective treatment for viruses, such as those that cause cold and flu, and that inappropriate use -- particularly among children -- is contributing to an alarming growth of antibiotic resistance. And they have taken steps to change prescribing habits. For instance, a 2002 Journal of the American Medical Association article found that the rate of antimicrobial prescribing had dropped overall between 1989 and 1990 and 1999 and 2000.

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