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I am not advovating giving all that ask an antibiotic. I am saying that most doctors I know, given a bad sore throat and having an important engagement the next day will reason thus:- I feel "off". My throat has some sort of infection which might be, and probably is viral, but even if the chance of this being a strep that will turn out nasty is only 5%, performing badly tomorrow could affect by whole career. Therefore I will take some Pen V because it is unlikely to do much harm, and weighed against the possibility of it making the difference between success and failure tomorrow I would be a fool not to take some. The relative values of the two options are in this fashion weighed. My main point is that only doctors can best weigh the value of the first element (benefit of antibiotic) but only patients can weigh the value of the second (potential personal benefit/loss) and that doctors often do not respect that. Doug Jenkinson Keyworth Health Centre, Bunny Lane, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5JU. [log in to unmask] V. 0115 937 3527 F. 0115 937 6781 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%