People in China now have a new question: how come you should have a doctor's permission to buy drugs to treat a common cold?

Some antibiotics for treating colds that were previously OTC, or over the counter, now have to be bought with a doctor's prescription. The Health Ministry has just tightened restrictions on sales of antibiotics.

Doctors say 90% of people with the common cold don't need antibiotics, which mainly target bacteria and parasites, while over 90% of cold symptoms are caused by a virus.

So antibiotics do nothing to cure colds, which the body normally cures itself within a few days.

Overuse of antibiotics is a major problem in many countries. People take them when they don't need them: the bugs get resistant to the antibiotics, so when antibiotics are really needed, they don't work.

(CRI July 6, 2004)