Penicillin for acute sore throat in children: randomised, double blind trial

Sir,

I am amazed that you are still publishing papers on the use of
antibiotics for sore throat. At the risk of sounding anti-intellectual
isn't it time that we moved on to something else? How many more research
projects and papers do we need to confirm what we knew at least twenty
years ago i.e. that the routine use of antibiotics for sore throat is not
necessary? This paper and the commentary on it "More valid criteria may be
needed" illustrate a lot of the criticisms levelled against the current
state of "scientific" research in general: let's re-hash some reasearch
that's probably been done before (albeit it with a slightly different
slant) and then get others in the field to comment on it, said comments
almost certainly calling for "further research". We could go on gazing
into our navels like this for ever. I've been a doctor for 25 years and an
interested observer of science for at least the last 38 years. No doubt
this is real science. But surely it's time to move on?

Competing interests:
None declared