Prescribing antibiotic drugs to children can be an extremely dangerous medical practice - participants in the collaboration of scientists from Belgium, Israel and Canada believe that the early use of antibiotics can lead to a number of serious consequences. The corresponding study is published in the journal Nature Communications, briefly reported by the University of McMaster (Canada).

"At a minimum, the early use of antibiotics causes a complex attack on the intestinal microflora - and this is known to be an extremely important biological mechanism for the body that controls the immune system. The latter, in the end, suffers in a particularly pronounced degree also because antibiotics, getting into a fragile organism, affect the brain, in particular, those of its departments that regulate immunity, "the authors of the study, the researchers of the Canadian University of McMaster.

In fact, the early use of antibiotics subsequently adversely affected the composition of the intestinal microflora, as well as the neurochemical activity of brain regions associated with the activity of the immune system. The use of antimicrobial agents also led to a decrease in social activity and anxiety, but increased aggressiveness.

To such conclusions scientists came in the experiments conducted in mice.

Pregnant females, newborn babies, and also rodents who reached the age of three and six weeks, were offered penicillin.

After that, scientists monitored the long-term changes that have occurred to animals, and compared them to those of rodents who were not offered antibiotics in early childhood.

The authors believe that the conclusions obtained for mice are valid for humans. Scientists plan to continue research on the effects of penicillin on the body in the long run. Specialists are also interested in the probable possibility of probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus JB-1) to partially reduce the negative effect of antibiotic use.

aspekty. net.