Would you like to improve your health? Save money? And do something important for the environment at the same time? Dr. Bernadette Albanese, a pediatrician from Johns Hopkins University has a suggestion for you.

She wants everyone to avoid taking antibiotics unnecessarily. While it's true that antibiotics can fight bacterial infections, they are 100% ineffective against viruses. "It's a medical fact," she emphasizes, "that they do no more good against viruses than a sugar pill."

She goes on to say that it's viruses that cause all colds, most sore throats, and most coughs. "The body's immune system takes care of them," she says, adding, "In most cases, all you have to do is wait a few days for the infection to run its course."

But what if it's your child and you really want to do everything you can for him or her. It wouldn't hurt, would it, to give some antibiotics anyway, just in case?

Up until recently, most people, including physicians, would have answered that there would be no harm done, and maybe it was a justifiable precaution. But today a different picture is emerging.

Overprescription of antibiotics means that the rate of drug resistant bacteria is increasing dramatically. "Because we used antibiotics so liberally," she says, "the bacteria have developed ways of surviving them. Unfortunately, the resistant bacteria are still available to cause infection."

One example of this is the bacteria, pneumococcus. It's the usual cause of ear infections, pneumonia, and meningitis. "In the past," says Albanese, "we could treat it easily with penicillin."

Snapping her fingers, she says, "It was no big deal. But," she continues, "today, 20% of them are resistant." The pneumococcus bacteria now shows resistance to our 2nd and 3rd lines of defenses. Some kinds of it have developed resistance to virtually all the available antibiotics except one that can only be administered intravenously in hospitals.

"If this continues," says Albanese, "we may have to send three year olds to the hospital each time they have an ear infection, rather than treating them at home with oral medications."

That's just one example of what happens when our arsenal of antibiotics becomes compromised. The danger, however, isn't just to society.

It's also to the individual. "When you overuse antibiotics," she says, "you increase the risk of developing an infection yourself due to a resistant bacteria."

When you use an antibiotic unnecessarily, for example, for a cold, you are almost certainly creating disease resistant bacteria in your own system. "If I culture your throat right now," she explains, "I could probably find pneumococcus bacteria and quite a few others as well."

"This is normal," she continues, "and we all have them. But if I keep giving you antibiotics, the only ones that survive are those that are resistant."

Albanese says that it's common to get infected from your own bacteria, especially if you've altered their nature through overuse of antibiotics. "When you overuse antibiotics," she warns, "you increase your risk of developing an infection."