http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3753465.stm
Basically it says that "This new study proposes one possible mechanism for this effect by showing that there may be link between antibiotic use and alterations in the normal bacteria of the gut.
Since the same link to children "alleged" or "suspected" to have been damaged following vacination also points to gut problems and one of the many ingredients of the cocktail of vacination include antibiotic neomycin which is a very powerful antibiotic which is given to patients about to undergo serious bowel surgey and never given to patients in oral form under the age of 18 years of age.
Of course the theory goes (as I understnad it) that the damage to the gut and the bodies intolerance or allergy to casein/gluten (thereby toxins leak through the gut wall which has become porous due to viral damage and thereby peptides/toxins cross to the blood stream and end up in the brain causing or worsening the effects of autism. Many parents I know have implemented the cf/gf diet with great results.
Unfortunately my son's peaditatrician (and many medical experts) dismiss the leaky gut theory out of hand saying there is no proof! Grrrrrr
If I have gotten the leaky gut mechanism theory wrong, please feel free to correct me!
But what the asthma link does show is that antibiotics can play a part in allergy and my kids had loads of ear infections etc, were treated with antiobiotics my son was given intravenous antibiotics at one stage for non-specific viral infection and a week later went onto to have DPT, HiB, Meng C and Polio (surely health professionals should not have inflicted further pressure on an immune system already under so much pressure)!
Many of these kids have similar patterns and surely someone shoudl be looking at the patterns that develop with kids and antibiotics because the rise in childhood allergy is alarming (leaving aside the autism debate)!
Sorry, am just rambling here but thought the above link might be of interest to some of you whose children also have asthma or allergy in general.
Take care
