Some researchers believe that Antibiotics can affect the good Bacteria of body and it can lead to Obesity, Cancer and Asthma. They not only affect the Bacteria and sometimes wipe them out totally.
Good Bacteria in body helps in many ways like making Vitamins and enhancing the immunity system.
Martin Blaser, MD, who heads the department of Medicine at New York University, says that pregnant women and babies should be more careful about these antibiotics because it can harm them on a large extent as they are developing good Bacteria in their Gut.
Image by : michaelll ( Antibiotics )
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Growing Trend of Using Antibiotic
Blaser says that in developed countries like United States, an average child gets 10 to 20 courses of Antibiotics by the age of 18 years.
These antibiotics are no doubt life saving drugs but sometimes they are not used appropriately. Doctors mostly prescribe Antibiotics without knowing there is an infection which is viral or bacterial. If it’s viral infection then Antibiotic does not help.
A study published in Journal of American Medical Association showed that medicines prescribed by the doctors for more than 60% in adults causes Respiratory Tract Infections, which are actually caused by different Viruses.
Another study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology noted that doctors sometimes keep the patients on Antibiotics even if they have viral infection.
Disappearing Bacteria
Studies have shown that with the increases use of Antibiotic, Good bacteria in our body are changing. Blaser believes that some Bacteria, which live in our body, are getting extinct including H.Pylori bacterium, it causes Ulcers. About hundred years ago, H.Pylori was the major microbe that people had in their Stomachs.
Studies show that now about less than 6% of children has this organism in the countries like Sweden, Germany etc. This specie is disappearing from Humans.
Blaser says that this is the only type of disappearing Bacteria; there are many other forms that are disappearing too. Lita Proctor, PhD, Coordinator of Human Microbiome Project at the National Institute of Health says that we know antibiotics have impact on Bacteria but we don’t have tools to study those impacts.
Association with the Chronic Diseases
Blaser says that Antibiotics contribute to the Obesity in human beings but the reasons of contribution are not clear yet.
It also causes the risk of inflammatory Bowel disease in children due to many Antibiotics taken.
Antibiotics can also be the reason of Allergies, Asthma and Type 1 Diabetes in children.
Other research by the Human Microbiome Project, focus on the living organisms in our body suggests that imbalance Bacteria in Stomach and Esophagus can lead to Cancer.
Proctor says that an imbalance Bacterial environment in the digestive system can cause inflammation and inflammation in cells can ultimately cause Cancer.
Protection of Good Bacteria
George Weinstocks, PhD, a Professor at the Genome Institute at Washington University at St. Louis that there are very few researches that are done on this topic so far. We need to do more research on this topic.
Alexander Khoruts, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota says that we should urgently see the effects of Antibiotics. There is a doubt that antibiotics are over used in the Clinical, Veterinary medicine and farming field.
Studies have already shown that overuse of Antibiotics are contributing to the drugs resistance problems. We know that there is an overuse of Antibiotics in our life and we should also know the reason to control it. The diagnostic tests will help the doctors to know the cause of an infection. Blaser says it is not easy to finish the trend of widely used Antibiotics, which can destroy many types of good Bacteria. Probiotics are required to replace the good Bacteria.
This is a study that reveals the facts about good Bacteria in our body and their destruction by overuse of Bacteria.
