According to a new study infants who are given antibiotics before of six the age of six months are more prone to develop asthma in their later childhood. They found that babies who are treated with medicines often faced forty percent higher risk of terminal condition, if prescribed a single course of treatment in initial months of life.
However, the threats rose by seventy percent if they were given a double course of treatment for infections which are hard to treat. The research team from the Yale University investigated fourteen hundred babies to observe if early use of escorted to higher asthma cases by the age of six.
In the study, researchers specifically targeted infants those were prescribed medication before the age of six months, for infections other than chest related problems. The infants born to couples without any history of asthma were also included. The results showed a higher risk even the babied never had chest infections.
The drugs were blamed for distressing the balance of protective bacteria in a gut that help in fending off illness in early years of life, reported the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Very early exposure of microbes, especially in the intestinal tract appears obligatory for a mature and balanced immune system in childhood.
The use of antibiotic particularly broad spectrum antibiotics can change microbial flora in the gut, thus causing inequities in the immune system and a deprived allergic reaction, explained study leader Dr Kari Rinses. In infancy boys are more prone to be affected than girls. But more girls inclined to develop it in the teenage.
Several young children are given the drugs to ward off chest infections. These infections may be a sign that asthma has already inlay and that antibiotics are not to blame at all. However, the finding from their study would encourage doctors to prevent needless use of antibiotics particularly in low risk infants, explained Dr Rinse.