This article is misleading and not consistent with reality. 1. The use of antibiotics in 15-16% of children with asthma is a LOW percentage. If the study found 40-50%, then the title of the artile would be appropriate. 2. Doctors or Nurse pracitioners at urgent care centers and emergency rooms routinely prescribe antibiotics for red throsts or sore thoats without testing for Streptococcus bacteria. And even if they are tested, they prescribe antibiotics, "just in case." They are also motivated by not wanting to have patients return with worse symptoms, by wanting less complaints and more "5 star" ratings from patients, and by the ever present threat of legal action that would destroy their (the doctor, never the NP or PA who have next to no risk) career. 3. How do the researchers at Penn State or wherever propose to make a solid diagnosis of a bacterial infection in a patient with an asthma exacerbation??? Should more patients have chest x-rays or blood tests?? Should patients be seen back by their primary doctor or at urgent care or ED every 2-3 days to see how their clinical exam has changed?? These options are not realistic at all. If a patient did come in for repeated exams and pay their copays each time, the exam would usually be by a different provider. Some doctors give prescriptions to patient/families to use "if you don't get better in a few days". The person gets better on their own often and the antibiotics are saved for the next virus. That is very inappropriate use of antibiotics. 4. Other countries in the underdeveloped world very often allow antibiotics to be obtained without a prescription. The next strain of a resistant organism is far more likely to come from one of these underdeveloped areas of the world where antibiotics are randomly available. 5. The agricultural industry uses tons of antibiotics in animals. and this is also a far more likely way to develop a resistant bacteria. A humble MD.

As someone who's suffered with asthma for 50+ years this isn't surprising. Often, asthma is the diagnosis AFTER a number of other diseases are ruled out. So they treat the patient for the symptoms they present and THEN start looking for an underlying disease.

Another article on asthma published the very same day:

• The Role of Bacteria in Asthma and the Potential for Antibiotic Treatment:

There is actually a growing body of research linking Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and asthma, but unfortunately there is no discussion about this at all in this article...

If you have asthma, educate yourself, and then find a doctor who will test and treat for Chlamydia pneumoniae. And btw, prescribing antibiotics without understanding the pathogen(s) involved in an infection and the best form of treatment for the pathogen(s), which may actually mean using multiple antibiotics or other antimicrobials, is actually the surest way to create microbial resistance...

STOP! STOP! STOP!

Seasonal allergies, and to a great extent, asthma, are now STRONGLY linked to chronic vitamin D deficiency.

After having suffered through decades of miserable allegies I was informed about vitamin D deficiency. i took the hint, took the vitamin D, and am now COMPLETELY FREE of all asthma/aalergy symptoms- for 6 years.

I have not had so much as a sniffle (or a cold, the flu, been sick even a day) in that 6 years.

When I think of the useless, expensive trips to the doctor's office(s) I get outraged.

How could these educated people have missed something so basic...other than the fact vitamin D is essentially free.

Elevate your blood level vitamin D to the range of 50-80 ng/ml, 25 OH, and never look back.

I have turned on 15-20 other allergy/asthma sufferers and everyone has had either COMPLETE REMISSION or a reduction in symptoms unlike anything the phyician's drug potions could yield.

This is about getting the truth out and breaking the spell of robotic doctors and their drug company overlords.

If you don't raise your vitamin D level to the repletion range you will suffer like all the rest.

It is absolutely, positively all about "vitamin" D.

I see how this could be the case- overprescribing of antibiotics to asthmatic children. But I'm not sure what the alternative is either. My kid has illness-induced asthma, which means he's not on regular asthma management, but when cold and flu season rolls around he can run into real trouble and we have to stay on top of it. He's been hospitalized for pneumonia in the past, and several times a year has managed to come down with bronchitis. Seeing blood oxygen levels close to having him hospitalized again when he has a cold is not unusual and has us giving him round the clock nebulizer treatments at home. His lungs are slow to recover from these illnesses and he remains susceptible to new ones for some time after. He's only 4yrs old and about 35lbs. While I'm willing the wait things out in an overly optimistic way, I think pediatricians are quick to prescribe him antibiotics in a defensive way. I suspect they've seen how quickly a young child's health can turn critical. I'm sure they don't want not prescribing an antibiotic in a borderline situation to be the reason we're sitting in an ER on a Saturday night. This article offers nothing in how Dr's should be alternatively be treating a young patient who is at high risk from common respiratory infections. In the face of that, I can't really see complaining about the potential overuse of antibiotics in this group.

On a vitamin D side note, my kid's Dr. does actually have us supplement vit D. Which has the additional effect of reminding me to kick the kids out to the sunshine when they might rather be pursuing indoor entertainments ;)