A quarter of people wrongly believe antibiotics work on most coughs and colds, a Health Protection Agency survey has found.

However antibiotics cannot treat viruses, which cause most respiratory tract infections.

Even if they did work you shouldn't take them unless you are a person at risk e.g. elderly or pregnant, lowers the natural defense your body gets from fighting it off itself

There are indeed a lot of misconceptions.

There are some groups of people in whom I will always give antibiotics (either there and then, or as a standby option) eg COPD patients, because these groups are less able to fight off infections and are more likely to succumb and require hospitalisation or develop complications.

This past week, I've had teenagers in who've had a cough or cold for a single day and think they need antibiotcs. Certainly, the older generation also feel they need antibiotics. I seem to have to explain that an infection appears viral and hence doesn't require antibiotics but this seems to confuse them (despite this being a well-off area).

Despite this, I've had a friend who was 25, ignored his cough (thought it was viral), deteriorated and turned out to have pneumonia. He then went on to develop respiratory failure and ultimately died. Had he bothered to see someone sooner, he might still be alive today.

Lesson: see your doctor anyway. Just don’t expect a prescription. At times walking away with peace of mind is enough.

My personal favourite is that a GP can tell if your ailment is viral or bacterial just by looking at you. It's amazing! They take one look at you and pronounce that you're ill by way of a virus and thus there's no point the public purse shelling out on antibiotics. They're geniuses!

</facetious post>.