In what situation should a doctor prescribe antibiotics for a patient?

This is a question that continues to stimulate vigorous debate among doctors, especially as concern about antibiotic resistance has grown in the past few years.

In general, I prescribe antibiotics to children when I have good clinical suspicion that their symptoms are caused by an infectious bacterium. Cases of middle ear infections (otitis media), sinusitis (sinus infection), pharyngitis (sore throat), and bronchitis or pneumonia, when accompanied by high fevers are usually good times to prescribe antibiotics. These are basically good rules of thumb when treating adults as well.

There are those, of course, on the extremes of the issue, who will either prescribe antibiotics indiscriminately for all illnesses, or will abstain from their use in almost every case, but I think that these doctors are becoming rare animals.