The goings on in this thread What is the green stuff I cough up… made me wonder something. Whenever I take my son to the doctor for green snot(parents know the routine, call Dr., field questions about green snot, fever, schedule appointment), the doctor looks in my son’s nose and throat, and declares it an infection. Antibiotics are prescribed. How does the doctor know it’s bacterial? Should a culture be done. Are cultures done in more enlightened doctor’s offices? Is my use of the word “culture” showing off my manifest ignorance?
And I thought this was a thread about my fav. 1980’s NYC punk band.
Ah, Green Snot Tangent at CBGB’s, those were the days.
I’m sorry. I can no longer bring myself to think coherently on this issue. Briefly: Not all green snot is bacterial. “purulent rhinitis” is often the diagnosis given. It’s not real accurate or descriptive. I consider antibiotics in these situations only if the course of the illness is prolonged, ie over 2 and a half to 3 weeks, or if other signs are present.
In the past, it was pretty reflexive that docs would just prescribe antibiotics for anybody who wandered in with a cold. Soon it became an expectation to get them. The public is starting to pay the price for this overuse.
Cultures are sometimes helpful, but mostly not. Except throat cultures for strep. But if they’ve got green snot, it’s probably not strep.
As I averred earlier, it seems that the chief reason for prescribing amoxicillin is to get the patient (and their parents) out of the office without having to do any of that annoying communication or teaching.
NotMrKnowItAll, you’re doing fine with the kid. You might ask the doctor if you have more questions. I mean the doctor you take your kid to.
Huh. Green Snot Tangent were a bunch of New Wave Poseurs.
Which, in the mindset of the time, is what made them so great. Cf. NY Dolls.
Off to Cafe Society …