In Reply.—We agree with Lorin and Smith that the use of antibiotics in young children with fever and without localizing signs is an extremely important issue. For this reason, and because of the appearance of several retrospective studies in the literature, we submitted our preliminary data for presentation at the scientific assembly of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association in May 1983.1 Our purpose in reporting our data in this forum was to alert our colleagues to the fact that we are conducting this study and to share preliminary results that would suggest using caution in accepting a strategy of "prophylactic" antibiotic treatment of large numbers of febrile children with no localizing signs. We have been careful to describe our data as preliminary and to present it in an appropriate forum for free and open scientific discussion.
We must take exception to the statement by Lorin and Smith that we