Antibiotics are one of the greatest tools in medical history.

They save lives. They have saved millions of lives. If you have bacterial meningitis, sepsis, worsening pneumonia, or a serious skin infection, you want antibiotics quickly.

But what happens when a life-saving tool becomes normalized, overused, and prescribed in situations where the benefit is small, uncertain, or nonexistent?

In this episode of Reimagine Healthcare, Noah Volz continues the Blind Spots in Medicine series with a closer look at antibiotics, children’s health, the microbiome, and the medical culture that can turn powerful interventions into reflexes.

This is not an anti-antibiotic episode. It is an episode about using antibiotics with more care.

The microbiome is not just a random collection of bacteria. It h ...