Antibiotics are one of the most important scientific advances, but using them more than necessary is harmful to health, especially when it comes to babies of a few months. Scientific communities strive to raise awareness about the prudent use of these medications, warning that they are not useful to cure everything, but are only effective in treating infections caused by bacteria.
New research aimed at investigating the effects of antibiotic use in children has found a important relationship between taking antibiotics in the first three years of life and some very common diseases in children like allergies or autoimmune diseases.
Why might antibiotics be related to allergies and autoimmune diseases in babies?
According to the study by researchers from Massachusetts (Boston), Antibiotic administration during the first three years of life deteriorates the intestinal flora in children negatively altering its composition.
The intestinal microbiota is the set of "good" bacteria that lodge in the intestine and that plays an important autoimmune function in newborns. In infants, the intestinal microbiota is less diverse and stable, so any situation that alters it compromises your protection against allergic and autoimmune diseases.
It is not the first time that they are related. An earlier study, published in Journal of Pediatrics He pointed out that giving the mother antibiotics during childbirth alters the baby's intestinal flora, despite being a common practice in approximately 30% of births.
To verify this, genetic sequencing techniques were used to analyze the bacterial populations present in stool samples taken monthly from 39 infants from birth until they turned 36 months.
During the study period, 20 of the babies required the administration of antibiotics for their respiratory or ear infections, receiving between 9 and 15 antimicrobial treatments.
The results showed that infants who received antibiotics had a significant reduction in the diversity of bacterial species, both in the number of species and in the number of strains of each species. They also found that the composition of their intestinal microbiota was less stable, especially during the periods in which they received the treatments.
