Why do antibiotics need a prescription? Does an over-the-counter equivalent exist?

Answer:
only a doctor has the means to figure out if you need an antibiotic and which one would be appropriate . if they were available without prescription they would be overused which eventually creates more resistant organisms, which in turn requires the developement of new or stronger antibiotics, you wouldn't know for sure which one to use, or maybe not even need one. there could be side effects or the risk of an allergic reaction. i don't believe there is any otc equivalent

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No there's no over the counter antibiotics. They need a prescription or else the public would go nuts buying them and we'd all eventually have bacteria that were resistant to antibiotics. People already overuse antibiotics and eventually the bacteria get resistant so they need a stronger antibiotic. If they get resistant to that then they need stronger ones. With antibiotics you can only go so strong before we run out of things to give you and eventually you could die from just a common cold from overuse of antbiotics, so we need to keep a strict hold on them because the public is often uneducated about these things and are looking for quick fixes rather than common sense.

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Antibiotics require a prescription for three reasons. The first is that picking the right antibiotic for a given infection is not easy. In order to fight an infection you need to know what type of bacteria is causing it (some types of bacteria are streptococcus pyogenes which causes strep throat and chlamydia trachomatis which causes the std chlamydia). Basically, a lot of training is required to pick the right drugs for the right bugs. Second, antibiotics can cause a lot of side effects and therefore it is important for people to know about the side effects and for treatment plans to be monitored by physicians. The third, and probably most important reason is that the overuse of antibiotics speeds up the development of drug-resistant bacteria. Drug-resistant bacteria are very difficult to treat and are very serious and sometimes deadly.

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umm... the common cold is caused by a virus, not a bacteria. therefore, it cannot be treated with antibiotics. and while i agree that SOMETIMES it's better for a doctor to diagnose your illness rather than simply treating yourself... it is not ALWAYS better. case in point, i get strep throat once a year, every year. i know its strep every time but i have to get tested, every time. sometimes the tests come back negative. when this happens the doctor will usually write the prescription anyways because of the visible symptoms. but occasionally i have to wait for it to get really bad, go back, get another test and THEN get the medication. this is just silly. which is way in SOME COUNTRIES antibiotics are sold freely over the counter, like tylenol and advil.

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HELLO,
ANTIBIOTICS ARE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES AND AS SUCH MAY ONLY BE ACQUIRED THROUGH A VALID PRESCRIPTION.
WHY?
THE REASONS TO USE ANTIBIOTICS MUST BE DETERMINED BY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW AND WHEN TO USE THE CORRECT TYPE.
THIS CAN'T BE DONE AT ALL IF THEY WERE NEXT TO THE ASPIRIN AND TYLENOL.

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