Antibiotics are not prescribed for 'flu per se or to ward off infection (only vaccines can prevent infection).
In my experience antibiotics are being prescribed for flu and to prevent secondary bacterial infection.
Ireland was [broken link removed] as having one of the highest rates of antibiotic prescribing in Europe. A study published in the medical journal The Lancet in 2005 ranked Ireland 11th out of 26 European countries for overall outpatient antibiotic use in 2002.
The rate here in Ireland was nearly 20 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants, compared to a high of 32.2 in France and a low of 9.8 in the Netherlands. The UK, meanwhile, had a rate of 14.3 defined daily doses. With prescription rates are higher here than in many other European countries, it seems apparent that many of us may be taking antibiotics unnecessarily.
Inappropriate prescribing
Diagnostic uncertainty is one reason why a GP or other health professional may prescribe an antibiotic unnecessarily - if a doctor is not 100% sure of a patient's diagnosis, they may reason that the risk of prescribing an unnecessary antibiotic far outweighs the risk of leaving a potential infection untreated.
However, another key factor in antibiotic over-prescribing is patient demand. With many patients paying good money to attend their GP and hoping for a 'quick-fix', as is often the case in today's fast-paced life - it can seem inadequate to be told to go home and simply rest for a week. Patients may only feel satisfied if they have been prescribed a course of antibiotics, and pressure on GPs to do so can be immense.
Taking antibiotics when they are not needed and will not even work - for a cold or flu virus, for example - will only increase the chance of a resistant bacterial strain subsequently developing.
The role that the overuse of antibiotics has played in the surge of the MRSA infection is often overlooked.