Infants on Antibiotics Experience a Big Increase in Their Risk of Developing Asthma
Even if neither parent had asthma, introducing antibiotics to a child less than six months of age produced a big increase in the risk that he or she would develop asthma five and a half years later. Do antibiotics prevent the establishment of bacteria in our gut that help us recognize good from bad in the outside world and modulate our immune system's response or do antibiotics nuke our gut microflora dysregulating our immune systems? Read all about it (free online) in "Antibiotic Exposure by 6 Months and Asthma and Allergy at 6 Years: Findings in a Cohort of 1,401 US Children" in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
