§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to investigate the link between the extent of antibiotics use for minor illnesses and childhood asthma. [33269]
§ Ms JowellThe prescribing needs of patients are a matter for the doctors responsible for their care. A number of theories have been put forward to explain the rise in prevalence of asthma in children in the past twenty to thirty years. The Department is aware of recent press reports of an as yet unpublished research study, carried out at Churchill Hospital, Oxford, which suggests that children under two years of age who are given oral antibiotics are more likely to develop asthma and other allergic conditions in later life. When the findings are published we shall certainly study them carefully.