FAR from helping, giving antibiotics to children infected with the food poisoning bug E. coli O157:H7 actually increases their chances of developing potentially fatal complications.
Phillip Tarr and his colleagues at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle looked at 71 children with diarrhoea caused by this E. coli strain. Of the 9 children treated with antibiotics, 56 per cent developed haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, in which organs fail due to the toxin released by the bacteria. By contrast, only 8 per cent of 62 children who weren't given the drugs developed the syndrome (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 26, p 1930). The scientists think bacteria injured by the drugs release more toxin into the gut.
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