The truth about antibiotics: do you really need to take the full course?

James Sutton battled doctors for six weeks to get a ten-day course of amoxicillin for his severe bronchitic chest infection. When he got the antibiotics, they didn’t really work and, what’s more, he had a major allergic reaction which caused a huge outbreak of hives all over his torso, adding to his misery. “No one seems to know any more what’s the right thing to do,” says Sutton, a 43-year-old fit and healthy publisher who cycles 18 miles to and from his office eve