New Study declares that the antibiotics, azithromycin and clarithromycin, are

A few 25% of the pregnant women participating in the study were prescribed antibiotics with clanthromycin and azithromycin which were the most common antibiotics and belong to marcolides which is a class of drugs.

The big concern about macrolides has been that pregnant women who are allergic to penicillin may be risking birth defects in their unborn child by taking them, but Dr Anick Berard of the University of Montreal said in a statement that there was no evidence this is the case. It’s the latest salvo in a debate over just how significant a health threat antibiotics can be to unborn fetuses.

Although, the researchers said that they could not find any association between the use of antibiotics administered to these women and the subsequent birth defects in a few of the children.

Over 135,000 pregnancies from the Quebec province were reviewed by the researchers. Around 1.7% of the pregnancies included in the study had been presented to macrolides amid their first trimester which included around 900 to azithromycin, 734 to erythromycin, 686 to clarithromycin, and 9106 to penicillin.

The two antibiotics were labeled safe for pregnancy because they work as substitutes for high-risk drugs such as penicillin. The researchers did not find an association between use of macrolides and the risk of birth defects, according to the study published October 30 in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.

The team in conclusion, indicated a call for further research to confirm their findings and to test the safety of other less frequently used antibiotics, especially during pregnancy.

Data on antibiotic use were gathered from Canada’s public insurance program.

In addition, while the short term impact of maternal antibiotics on a newborn may be limited or negligible, a 2014 study found the use of antibiotics in the second or third trimester of pregnancy increased the risk of childhood obesity by 84 percent compared to those whose mothers didn’t use antibiotics. For one, azithromycin is commonly used to treat chlamydia infections which is also often associated with birth defects. Of course, no one study is the final word on anything, but it does suggest more research on the risks and benefits that prenatal antibiotics offer both mother and child should take place. Roughly 10 percent of the all of the babies born had major birth defects.