Are Antibiotics Safe? What You’re Not Being Told

This is amazing. Antibiotics are given as if they were candy. This should be given to all pregnant women with the admonition – “No drugs in pregnancy unless absolutely, positively needed for survival.”

From the article (see footer): “The study is important because it looked at drugs that have been used for decades without large studies of their safety in pregnant women, said Dr. Michael Katz of the March of Dimes.”

Study Links Some Antibiotics With Birth Defects; Others Appear Safe For Fetus

There has never been a large analysis of antibiotic use in pregnancy. It was finally done and it found that mothers of babies with birth defects were more likely than mothers with healthy babies to report taking two types of antibiotics during pregnancy: sulfa drugs (brand names include Thiosulfil Forte and Bactrim) and urinary germicides called nitrofurantoins (brand names include Furadantin and Macrobid).

November’s Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine had the study.

The women were interviewed by phone from six weeks to two years after their pregnancies. Those who remembered taking antibiotics during the month before conception through the first three months of pregnancy were identified as exposed to antibiotics.Birth defects linked to sulfa drugs included rare brain and heart problems, and shortened limbs. Those linked to nitrofurantoins (ny-troh-fyoor-AN’-toyns) included heart problems and cleft palate. The drugs seemed to double or triple the risk, depending on the defect.

Source: Crider KS, Cleves MA, Reefhuis J et al. Antibacterial Medication Use During Pregnancy and Risk of Birth Defects .National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(11):978-985.