Antibiotics and asthma
 

From" Antibiotic Use in First Year May Increase Asthma Risk New Your
times June 19 2007
"
" The use of antibiotics in the first year of life is associated with
an increased risk for asthma at age 7, a new study has found, and the
reason may be that antibiotics destroy not only disease-causing
microbes, but also those that are helpful to the developing immune
system.

Antibiotic use had a greater impact on children who would otherwise be
considered at lower risk - children who lived in rural areas and those
whose mothers did not have asthma - than on those who were already at
increased risk because of an urban environment or genetic
predisposition.
" ........
" " Dr.
Kozyrskyj said this did not mean that antibiotics should be avoided.
"During the first year of life, if there's a severe infection,
antibiotics are appropriate," she said. "But broad-spectrum
antibiotics probably increase the risk for asthma. It's good clinical
practice to start with the narrow-spectrum drugs first and then try
the broad spectrum."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/he... 070&emc=eta1