My dad in India gets prescribed antibiotics whenever he's sick. Despite my constant explanations, he insists that this is how it should be, because when you're sick your immunity is lowered.

On the other hand, the last time I got prescribed antibiotics was probably almost 10 years ago when I ended up in the hospital from an abscess.

Granted, my dad is old, but that part of the world still seems to expect doctors to do more for a common cold than just tell you to rest for a week and take an acetaminophen or phenylephrine if/when needed (even when that's really all you need).

I don’t know how widespread it is, but some people will beg for antibiotics when they definitely have a viral infection.

My friend who always used a naturopath would go on endlessly trying to diagnose herself with viral or bacterial to decide whether she should ask for antibiotics, but I definitely got the point.

I suppose many patients simply don’t know the difference.

There is more effort today to avoid overprescribing antibiotics, but in cases where diagnosis is not certain, most providers will oblige

Could just prescribe sugar pills then instead of antibiotics for a cold.

A friend passed away few months ago in London from kidney infection.

UK seems very to be very cautious of over diagnosis, while my experience in Eastern Europe was opposite - my infant received 3 different kinds of steroids (potentially what stunned his growth).