Antibiotics - Carcinogenic, Teratogenic, and Mutagenic Effects of Antibiotics
Researchers continue to show that antibiotics are far more dangerous than previously thought.
A new study from Harvard researchers shows that antibiotics damage and alter human DNA, as well as proteins and fats in tissues. This type of effect classifies antibiotics as teratogens. "A teratogen is a drug or other substance capable of interfering with the development of an embryo fetus that may lead to birth defects or developmental malformations."
Researchers at Duke University found that exposure to antibiotics may also increase the risk of LBW. This in turn was associated with cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.
Other researchers have linked the use of antibiotics to causing cancers of the skin, prostate, and breast. Sudden death is always a risk factor with antibiotics use that most people don't realize, and doctor's definitely never discuss with their patients.
Antibiotic-induced DNA changes can also cause lung disease, cardiovascular death, pancreatitis, as well as many other conditions. A single dose of antibiotics can strongly alter microbial profiles and predipose humans to diseases like C. difficile with 40-50% mortality rates. Antibiotic-induced and resistant C. difficile affects approximately 3 million people yearly in the U.S. alone. What most people don't realize in all of these cases is that alterations and damage to the DNA are involved and this damage is taking place whether or not the disease immediately manifests itself.
Antibiotics expose everyone to increased levels of infection from pathogenic organismsthat are resistant to all antibiotics.
Over 50% of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary with some estimates as high as 70-90% in children. The inappropriate use of antibiotics continues to be high (22-61%) in hospitlas and clinics alike.
In 2003, the FDA mandated that doctors culture microbes and perform susceptibility testing prior to prescribing antibiotics. 10 years later, almost all physicians still fail to do this.
Feel confident in your doctor's knowledge?