I love it when convention gets turned on its head.

For years now, doctors have given kids who’ve had tonsillectomies a week of antibiotics to help alleviate pain. That’s because normal mouth bacteria can get into the cavity that remains after the tonsils are removed… leading to inflammation and agony.

Antibiotics kill the bacteria, and therefore the inflammation and the pain. And no one wants to see a kid suffer after surgery, right?

But it turns out that these kids haven’t needed a week of antibiotics after all. Three days of the stuff works just as well, according to a study in Archives of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery.

Believe it or not, it’s taken around half a century to figure this out.

That’s right… antibiotics were first used for pain after tonsillectomies around 50 years ago, and here we are in 2009, just learning that most doctors have been giving our kids way too much of this stuff.

Yet another case of antibiotic overuse, and it’s not just hurting the kids who take them. It’s hurting all of us.

Bacteria are about as clever as microorganisms can be. They can mutate, and right now, many are doing just that, becoming resistant to antibiotics and turning into frightening super-bugs.

That’s led to a wave of drug-resistant infections in hospitals. And lately, more of these mutant strains are being spotted out in the wild. In this case, the “wild” can mean your child’s school or even your home.

So anything we can do to use these meds less – in kids and adults – is good for all of us, and bad for these tiny monsters. And if saving the human race from a mutant wave of drug-resistant super-bugs isn’t enough, there are other reasons to cut back on antibiotic use – especially when kids are involved.

Just a few weeks ago, I mentioned the alarming number of children who suffer from bad drug reactions – nearly 600,000 every year.

Many of these problems are caused by antibiotics. And the more times a kid takes an antibiotic, the more likely he or she will suffer a bad reaction.

So when your doc gives you or your child a prescription for antibiotics, ask a few questions. First, ask if these meds are absolutely necessary. In some cases, they’re not. If they are, then ask if you’re getting the shortest possible course.

You’re not just protecting yourself… you’re helping to save the world from super bugs.

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