You wake up feeling you have a scratchy throat. As the morning goes by the nose starts running. By the evening the headache and muscle pains have developed, and by the next morning the chills and coughing cause you to call in sick at work. At the doctor, the words we so often use are, ”Doctor, I can't afford to be off for much longer. I need something to make me feel better quickly.”I grew up thinking that antibiotics were the cure for all infections. With my dear mother being a pharmacist, the antibiotic would come home almost as soon as any of us developed a cough. But let's look at the word 'Antibiotics': The Latin word 'anti' means against and 'biotics' means bacteria. Hence antibiotics are active against bacterial infections. But were you aware of the fact that 80 to 90 % of the upper respiratory, and even lower respiratory infections that we get are actually viral infections?
