Antibiotic use without prescription common in U.S.

A growing number of germs around the world are already resistant to antibiotics, making it increasingly difficult to treat infections that were once easy to combat with medications. While much of this problem is caused by doctors prescribing antibiotics to patients who don't need them, people who use these drugs without seeing a doctor first are also part of the problem. For the current study, researchers examined data from 31 previously published studies to assess nonprescription antibiotic use in the U.S. and the factors that may contribute to it.