Babies given antibiotics before six-months 'have a higher asthma risk'

Babies given antibiotics before the age of six months are up to 70 per cent more likely to develop asthma later in childhood, according to a study.

Researchers found infants treated with the drugs faced a 40 per cent rise in risk of the incurable condition if they were prescribed a single course of treatment in the first few months of life. But the dangers increased by 70 per cent if they were given a second batch of drugs for hard-to-treat infections.

The findings from Yale University scientists, are the latest in a series of studies linking commonly used medicines with childhood asthma. But experts have been divided over whether the drugs really are to blame, or whether the children studied would probably have developed asthma anyway.

Source - Daily Mail