AUSTRALIA – It’s enough to give a new parent a headache. After studies that have shown a link between antibiotics use in the first months of life and the development of atopic symptoms later, another study comes out of Australia claiming that there is no link.

What’s a parent to do?

The link between antibiotics and allergy was made when scientists followed the “hygiene theory” from our outside environment to inside the body. The hygiene theory says that our modern world is fundamentally too clean, and infants are not exposed to the right kinds of bacteria. This lack of exposure means that their immune system isn’t properly “tuned” to attack invaders, and becomes confused. The confusion (and the hypersensitivity that results) turns the immune system against common, harmless substances – like peanuts, gluten, pollen and other common allergens.

A new study out of Australia now contradicts the finding that antibiotics are related to future asthma or allergy development. This West Australian study looked at 200 children who were considered high risk for allergies. Researchers followed these kids from infancy to age 5. They found no correlation between the development of allergic disease and antibiotics use in babyhood.

In fact, there was no association between even multiple courses of antibiotic treatment and asthma or allergies.

However, the researchers came to this conclusion only after they had controlled their results for rates of infection in infancy. What they discovered is that the incidence of infections was related to later asthmatic or allergic problems, and not the use of antibiotics per se.

While this can be considered a positive piece of news for worried parents who might otherwise reject the idea of a doctor’s prescription, it’s also not an endorsement for the use of antibiotics at a moment’s notice. Overuse of these powerful drugs is still linked to a number of other problems, the most troubling of which is the phenomena of “super bugs” that are resistant to drug intervention.

Source: 6Minutes.com.au and Be Allergy Wise