Antibiotics during pregnancy

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Is it safe to take antibiotics during pregnancy/breastfeeding? How can they affect

my baby?

Antibiotics are specialized medicines used to treat infections. Antibiotics are

particularly helpful to treat bacterial infections. Due to their fast onset of action, since

the twentieth century, there is widespread use of antibiotics to treat infections due to

microbes replacing the traditional ways and means of healing in such cases. With the

growing body of research in this regard, it was soon recognized that not all antibiotics

are safe for use in pregnant women with infections due to their potential to cause

abnormalities in developing fetuses.

Although some people think it is wise to avoid all antibiotics during the course of

pregnancy, it is not the fact. Some antibiotics are safe enough not to harm the

pregnant woman and the baby she is bearing; others have the potential to cause

abnormalities in the fetus which manifest when the child is born with birth

abnormalities. With this in mind, doctors treating pregnant women with infections

treat pregnant women with infections with utmost care weighing the benefits obtained

by antibiotic therapy by the risks incurred due to such treatment.

The treating doctor’s task has been simplified much by the US Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) guidelines in this regard which classify all drugs including

antibiotics into five categories based on the risk they carry for the developing fetus.

Drugs and for that matter antibiotic included in the category X are strongly

contraindicated for use during pregnancy as there is clear evidence against them in

causing birth defects as devastating to the extent of fetuses born with cleft lip or

palate and congenital heart defects. Drugs included in the category A are generally

considered safe for use during the pregnancy. Those in category B are considered safe

to the extent that they failed to produce any harm in pregnant study animals but no

data exists for their safety in pregnant women. Category C medicines produced

adverse effects in pregnant animals but the lack of evidence in humans coupled with

their benefits of usage warrant them to be used after the physicians outweigh their

risks against the benefits entailed to the pregnant woman. Similarly, category D drugs

have strong evidence of causing fetal malformations in humans but their benefits

often warrant their usage. Therefore, the FDA categories make it simpler for

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Is it safe to take antibiotics during pregnancy/breastfeeding? How can they affect my baby? Antibiotics are specialized medicines used to treat infections. Antibiotics are particularly helpful to treat bacterial infections. Due to their fast onset of action, since the twentieth century, there is widespread use of antibiotics to treat infections due to microbes replacing the traditional ways and means of healing in such cases. With the growing body of research in this regard, it was soon recognized that not all antibiotics are safe for use in pregnant women with infections due to their potential to cause abnormalities in developing fetuses. Although some people think it is wise to avoid all antibiotics during the course of pregnancy, it is not the fact. Some antibiotics are safe enough not to harm the pregnant woman and the baby she is bearing; others have the potential to cause abnormalities in the fetus which manifest when the child is born with birth abnormalities. With this in mind, doctors treating pregnant women with infections treat pregnant women with infections with utmost care weighing the benefits obtained by antibiotic therapy by the risks incurred due to such treatm ...
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