Antibiotic resistance is an issue that all healthcare professionals have to deal with. A new Cochrane Review, published in September 2012, evaluates the role of procalcitonin in guiding decisions about treating respiratory infections with antibiotics. In an accompanying editorial, Chris Del Mar, Co-ordinating editor of the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group, and Toby Lasserson, Senior Editor at the Cochrane Editorial unit, discuss the implications of this new approach. Chris Del Mar explains more...