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Allergies And Asthma Linked To Antibiotic Use In Infants

On October 1, 2003, HealthDayNews highlighted research reported at a conference of the European Respiratory Society in Vienna, Austria finds that children who take antibiotics are more likely to develop Allergies and Asthma later in life.

In the study, researchers from the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan examined information from earlier research that followed 448 children from infancy to the age of 7. All the children had taken antibiotics for one reason or another and all had been tested for allergies.

By the age of 7, 38% of them developed allergies to pets, ragweed, grass and dust mites. 5% of them had asthma. Children who had taken antibiotics within the first six months of life were 1.5 times more likely to have developed allergies and 2.5 times more likely to develop asthma.

In the past few years, scientists have been coming to the conclusion that human immune systems are more likely to develop the way they are supposed to as long as they are exposed to germs during infancy.

It’s felt that antibiotic use in infants may help allergies develop by killing off the normal bacteria in the intestines that are important in proper immune system growth and function. As a result, there is a higher occurrence of allergies.

Acknowledging that the overuse of antibiotics has also been shown to lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, Dr. Keoki Williams, researcher and clinical epidemiologist, concludes the findings of this study indicate “there’s potentially more than one reason to use antibiotics judiciously in young children.”

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