Antibiotic For Infants Can Develop Asthma

Babies treated with antibiotic before their first birthday are twice likely as antibiotic free infants develop asthma, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. And the risk of developing the chronic lung desease grows each time a baby is given one of the drugs.Data from eight studies which included more than 12,000 children- found children were up to 2.9 times more likely to develop asthma if they had given an anitbiotic before the age one.

In a second analysis, involving more than 27,000 children, the B.C team found a 16-percent increase in risk of each additional course of antibiotics given to children. Asthma is now one the the most sommon chronic disease of childhood. About ten percent of children in Canada have it, and about ten children and 300 adults die every year from asthma, according to the Public Health Agency.

Source: July 2007 Reader's Digest