Antibiotic use tied to Crohn's, ulcerative colitis

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We seem to have come full circle from the theory that IBD and UC were caused by bacteria, and antibiotics should be used to "cure" the diseases, to the realisation that antibiotics themselves can be the cause — a total volte-face.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who are prescribed a large number of antibiotics tend to have a higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a new study finds, providing more evidence that antibiotics may be disturbing bacteria in our intestine.

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Once the researchers took other factors into account, they found that people prescribed lots of antibiotics were as much as 50 percent more likely to get Crohn's disease within two to five years.

"It's not that we should stop using antibiotics," he said. "We get through a lot of important infections by using them. But we have to make sure that when we use them, it's for the right reasons."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/r2Ye3Y American Journal of Gastroenterology, September 13, 2011.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns- ... 3038.story