HOUSTON -- A common form of treatment for patients could be a prescription for trouble, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.

When a patient visits his or her doctor while feeling sick, the doctor will often prescribe an antibiotic. But that may be doing more harm than good.

An infection that doctors worried about inside hospitals now seems to have moved into the general population.

"It has been increasing. There is a virulent strain that's been spreading in an epidemic fashion throughout North America," said Dr. Daniel Musher.

It's called clostridium difficile and it seems to make people sick when antibiotics disrupt the balance of a bacteria normally found in the intestines.

"The great majority of antibiotic prescriptions are for conditions that don't need antibiotics. It's a little difficult to be certain which ones do and which ones don't. But everyone agrees there is vast overprescription of antibiotics," Musher said.

He said many people don't understand that viruses such as the cold and flu do not respond to antibiotics.

"In the United States, people expect to have an antibiotic given to them, and that's part of the problem," Musher said.

So, if you're taking antibiotics for a virus, you could be gambling with clostridium difficile -- an infection that can lead to diarrhea and high fever.

In Canada, researchers found the use of over-the-counter medications to suppress stomach acid, such as Pepcid and Zantac, can even double the chances of getting the infection.

The condition is treatable with more antibiotics. So what will happen then?

"I guess that if we have to treat enough of these clostridium-difficile infections there could be some new problems that could arise as a result," Musher said.

Some of the organisms found in Houston-area patients have been the virulent strain, but most are not.

Musher said that treating a virus really only shortens the illness by 24 to 48 hours. So, if you're a normally healthy person, you may want to ask your doctor if you can avoid the antibiotics and let the illness run its course.

However, if your doctor determines you have a bacterial infection, you should take all of the antibiotics prescribed to you.

For more on clostridium difficile, visit www.cdc.gov.